RhoDeo 1834 Grooves

Hello,


Today's artists are an American R&B and funk band whose popularity began in the mid-1970s and ran through the 1980s. Influences included Earth, Wind & Fire; Commodores; Chaka Khan; and Sly and the Family Stone. Signed to Mercury Records in 1976, Con Funk Shun enjoyed a decade of successful national and overseas tours, eleven chart-topping albums, and numerous hit singles on the Top R&B Singles chart....N'Joy

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Con Funk Shun was formed by high-school classmates Michael Cooper and Louis "Tony" McCall, along with Karl Fuller, Paul "Maceo" Harrell, Dennis Johnson, Cedric Martin, and Danny "Sweet Man" Thomas. All of them had been playing together since their high-school days in Vallejo, CA. Felton Pilate, also from Vallejo, joined the group after his band, a local rival, disbanded.

In the early '70s, the group was a backup band for the Soul Children with the name Project Soul. And when they weren't on the road with the Soul Children, they were creatively working with various Stax staff writers. In the mid-'70s, Project Soul made an effort to become a headliner, but they met dead-ends and little success. However, they found good fortune at Audio Dimensions, a Memphis recording studio owned by producer Ted Sturges. Around this time, he group named itself after the title of one of their instrumentals, "Con Funk Shun." During their three-year stint at Audio Dimensions, Sturges, besides owning the studio, was also Con Funk Shun's producer. Their association resulted in the group's first album, Organized Con Funk Shun.

As their sound developed, Pilate and Cooper emerged as the primary lead vocalists. Around the time their first album for Crankshaft Productions, Inc. was being recorded, the eighth member, MC and technician Dennis Johnson, left the group to attend seminary in California. By 1976, the group signed to Mercury, where they remained for ten years. Their first hit for Mercury was "Ffun," written by Michael Cooper as a tribute to the R&B/funk band Brick. One of the premiere party funk bands of its time, they also began recording ballads and instrumental tracks by the early '80s. Aside from being the primary musicians on all their albums, Con Funk Shun also contributed to each of their albums as writers, arrangers, and/or producers.

Burnin' Love, the septet's last album with Mercury, was recorded without their longtime musical center, Felton Pilate, who left the group in 1986 to become a successful producer. (Pilate eventually became the musical force behind MC Hammer.) Melvin Carter, a frequent collaborator of Con Funk Shun, joined the group upon Pilate's exit, and that same year Michael Cooper left for a solo career. Con Funk Shun disbanded after their last album with Mercury, but reunited in the '90s, and began performing at festivals and concerts around the world.

Pilate became the in-house record producer and songwriter for M.C. Hammer and his record label Bust-It Records. He worked on several albums for the company, including Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em album, as well as the bulk of Special Generation's 1990 début album, Take It to the Floor. Lead singer Michael Cooper embarked on a successful career as a solo artist, releasing his solo début album Love Is Such A Funny Game on Warner Bros. Records in 1987, and releasing the 1989 album Just What I Like and the 1992 album Get Closer on Warner Bros.' sister label Reprise Records.

As recently as 2013, their eleven Mercury Records albums, along with their Greatest Hits and Best Of Con Funk Shun albums, continue to be remastered and released digitally. In 2015, the More Than Love album was released. Three of the original band members, Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate and Karl Fuller, currently tour as Con Funk Shun. In March 2017, they celebrated their 45th anniversary as a band with four sold-out shows at Yoshi's in Oakland, California


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“Touch” opens up with “Too Tight” an undeniably catchy disco tune that reminds of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove.” The factor most similar between these two songs is that they’re impossible to listen to and not just feel great. The song is without a doubt the highlight of the album, but there is much more great material to follow. The feel good atmosphere established early by Con Funk Shun continues on through the next song entitled “Lady’s Wild,” a more heavy tune backed by hand claps and an especially funky slap bass line. The ballad “Give Your Love To Me” serves as a break in the fast paced action before it picks back up with the stepper “Pride and Glory,” a song that shows what Con Funk Shun was great at. They not only had the danceable beats that the early ’80 market demanded, but also held their instrumentation to very high standards. This is apparent in the song’s instrumental break showcasing guitarist Michael Cooper along with their talented horn section. Of the other finest musical moments on the alum are the title track’s bass line and the keyboard work on the album’s best ballad “Can’t Say Goodbye”. The fine musicianship displayed by Con Funk Shun’s seven members is unquestionable. At a time when cheap synthesizers were the norm and poorly written songs became dance floor hits, Con Funk Shun, despite conforming to the general sound of the ear, stayed true to their history of excellence by having such great playing on their record.

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 Con Funk Shun - Touch   (flac  238mb)

01 Too Tight 6:17
02 Lady's Wild 4:53
03 Give Your Love To Me 4:58
04 Pride And Glory 4:29
05 Kidnapped! 3:24
06 Welcome Back To Love 3:55
07 Touch 4:31
08 Can't Say Goodbye 4:19
09 Play Widit 4:18

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Con Funk Shun entitled this album Con Funk Shun 7 to commemorate the seven members in the group and to acknowledge that the number seven represents renaissance -- rebirth, the emergence of something new. The featured track is the R&B Top 20 hit "Bad Lady," with Michael Cooper hovering over the track with his husky tenor. The album has a horde of songs that could have received airplay and chart action. Specifically, "Promise You Love" is a song that transcends several genres of music. It's a ballad that begins with a bass-driven intro which segues into a bluesy pre-verse rhythm and ultimately settles down into a vintage R&B groove. The track features Michael Cooper and Felton Pilate, with Cooper adding a passionate monologue ad lib in the vamp. But this album was fueled by the the ballad "Straight from the Heart." The song speaks for itself. It's beautifully written and arranged, led by Felton Pilate's supplicating falsetto and Michael Cooper's compassionate tenor. Though the single was not a mega seller and was also preceded by "(Let Me Put) Love on Your Mind" from a previous album, it set the stage for a string of unreleased and uncharted ballads to follow. Moreover, the group experimented with a little rock on the track "California 1," featuring Pilate on vocals and his rock-flavored electric guitar.

 Con Funk Shun - 7   (flac  257mb)

01 Bad Lady 4:09
02 I'll Get You Back 5:12
03 Body Lovers 4:40
04 Promise You Love 7:34
05 If You're In Need Of Love 6:35
06 Straight From The Heart 4:39
07 A Song For You 5:00
08 California 1 4:36

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Known for their up-tempo party songs, Con Funk Shun came strong on this album too. However, it was with the funk-driven ballad "Love's Train," with a lead by Michael Cooper's husky, yet smooth tenor. Although the ballad was funk-driven, the romance in the song is manifested by the guitar and piano rhythms. Also noteworthy is the ballad "Everlove," which features co-leads by Cooper and Felton Pilate. Although this song was never a release, it is a favorite among quiet-storm radio. Con Funk Shun's only uptempo hit from this album was "Ms. Got-the-Body," which is reminiscent of the Dazz Band's "Let It Whip." Nonetheless, the song offers a good vocal and arrangement. Aside from the aforementioned, the remainder of the album seems more experimental; however, Con Funk Shun maintains a high standard of musical quality.

Con Funk Shun - To The Max (flac  348mb)

01 Ms. Got-The-Body 3:51
02 Let's Ride And Slide 4:30
03 Everlove 4:06
04 Hide And Freak 4:23
05 You Are The One 3:38
06 Take It To The Max 5:01
07 Love's Train 5:12
08 Ain't Nobody Baby 5:32
09 T.H.E. Freak 4:23
10 Ms Got The Body (12") 6:46
11 Ms Got The Gody (Instrumental) 5:21


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This was unlike any album Con Funk Shun had recorded to date. Not only did the group contribute minimal writing, but the only production credit was the uncharted single "Turn the Music Up." Intending to try something new without forsaking their appeal and sound, the group solicited various producers, even though group members Felton Pilate and Michael Cooper were credited as arrangers on a couple of selections. And after nearly a two-year absence from the R&B Top Ten, the group returned with the number four single "Electric Lady," with veteran producer Larry Smith at the helm. The synthesized single is basically a rap song, led by Michael Cooper's monotone vocals. During its time, it was one of the closest any R&B group had come to recording a rap song. The follow-up, "I'm Leaving Baby," was an urbanized ballad featuring Cooper's lead vocals. Electric Lady also spawned the number 47 single "Tell Me What You're Gonna Do." With its electronic synthesizer approach, the Felton Pilate-led single was also produced by Smith. This album is full of competent selections; any one of them, such as "Pretty Lady" and "Don't Go," would have been a wise choice as a release.

Con Funk Shun - Electric Lady (flac  230mb)

01 Turn The Music Up 4:36
02 Rock It All Night 4:17
03 I'm Leaving Baby 5:40
04 Tell Me What You're Gonna Do 3:55
05 Electric Lady 3:54
06 Don't Go (I Want You Back) 4:45
07 Circle Of Love 4:11
08 Pretty Lady 4:55


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RhoDeo 1834 Re-Ups 152

Hello, .what can i say, still visitors who find it difficult to trace back 12 months..most irritating, from now on i will delete these requests, which should make it easier to see when the last re-up request was fulfilled, btw the easiest way is to click on a mir link-present on almost every page these days and see when it was uploaded , within a year means no go. Oh and please don't ask more than once for the same artist in the same week.


13 correct requests for this week, whatever another batch of 43 re-ups (13 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 August 29h... N'Joy

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5x Sundaze Back in Flac ( Ryoji Ikeda - 20 to 2000 EP, Ryoji Ikeda & Carsten Nicolai - Cyclo, Ryoji Ikeda - Matrix, Ryoji Ikeda - Op,  Ryoji Ikeda - Dataplex)


4x roots Back In Flac (Mad Professor - Under The Spell Of Dub,  Mad Professor - Dub You Crazy,  Mad Professor - Method To The Madness, Mad Professor - Method To The Madness 2 )


1x Aetix NOW in Flac (Gang Of Four - A Brief History Of The Twentieth Century)


5x Aetix NOW In Flac ( Clockwork Orange Audio, Kinesis - Handshakes for Bullets, Suicide - American Supreme, DissCovers Radio Bagdad, David Bowie - All Saints)


3x Aetix Back in Flac (Liquid Liquid - Slip In And Out Of Phenomenon, Pylon - Gyrate (Plus) , Pylon - Chomp (More) )


3x Roots Back in Flac (Alpha & Omega ‎- Watch And Pray,  Alpha & Omega ‎- Almighty Jah, Alpha & Omega - Safe In The Ark )


3x Roots Back in Flac ( The Disciples - Hail H.I.M. In Dub, The Disciples - Infinite Density Of Dub, Alpha and Omega Meets The Disciples - The Sacred Art Of Dub )


3x Aetix   Back in Flac (Black Flag - Everything Went Black, Black Flag - Damaged, Black Flag - My War )


3x Beats   Back in Flac ( 808 State - New Build, 808 State - Quadrastate, 808 State - Archives Part I)


2x Sundaze Back in Flac (Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return I, Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return II)


3x Sundaze Now in Flac ( Anders Ilar - Enkel, Anders Ilar - Ludwijka (Extended Visit), Anders Ilar - Sworn)


4x Aetix   NOW in Flac (Fischer-Z - Word Salad, Fischer-Z - Going Deaf For A Living, Fischer-Z - Red Skies Over Paradise, Fischer-Z - Reveal  )

4x Grooves Back in Flac ( Aretha Franklin - Hey Now Hey, Aretha Franklin - Aretha, Aretha Franklin - Who's Zoomin' Who, Aretha Franklin - What You See Is What You Sweat )

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RhoDeo 1834 Aetix

Hello, I got some persistent requests to post some music of today's artists coming all the way from South America, Peru and Argentina to be more precise, yes quality sells everywhere..



Today's Artists, would be one of the most widely respected bands in the world today -- at least on par with whip-smart types like XTC. Certainly, few can match their sheer creative stamina: how many other bands can claim to be still reinventing themselves after 40 years and more than 20 albums? But today's artists come from Holland. Furthermore, the occasional tour of the U.S. and Canada aside, they quickly made it clear that their only concession to the big outside world, would be to sing in English. That aside, anyone wanting them to tailor their unique brand of art pop to the demands of a broader audience could go hang. In particular, they specialize in making their latest album sound as little like the last as possible. This has simultaneously guaranteed them a modest degree of success across continental Europe, where fans appreciate their fierce integrity and commitment to playing intimate venues, and denied a lot of people in Britain and America some wonderfully inventive -- and very accessible -- music. Here's your chance ..............N'Joy

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The Nits originally consisted of Henk Hofstede (vocals, guitar), Alex Roelofs (bass), Michiel Peters (guitar) and Rob Kloet (drums). Influenced by British pop music, especially the Beatles, they also incorporated influences from new wave music into their sound. They made their live debut in 1974,[1] and released their self-financed, limited-run debut LP, The Nits, in 1978.[2] This brought them to the attention of Columbia Records, for whom The Nits would continue to record for the next 22 years. Their major-label debut, Tent (1979), carried on the new wave style of The Nits, but was considerably more polished, partly due to the influence of producer Robert Jan Stips. On New Flat (1980) and Work (1981), which made increasing use of synthesisers, "Hofstede reveals a growing aptitude for creating little emotional postcards."

    "The obvious derivativeness on the Nits' early albums could have been written off as cut-rate local flirtation/reassembly of the real thing from Britain and America (Beatles, Talking Heads, etc.). In retrospect, however, those records could be seen as learning experiences of a world-class band now deserving international attention."

In the meantime, the group had been developing their sound on their numerous European tours. Many songs were radically reworked for live performance, a practice the group would continue throughout their career. Between the group's experiments with different arrangements, and the addition of Stips to the line-up, The Nits gradually moved toward a more distinctive musical style, with Kloet playing a wide range of percussion, and Stips' keyboards used to produce a lusher sound. Omsk showcased the new Nits sound with songs like "A Touch of Henry Moore", almost entirely based around Kloet's percussion, and the dramatic hit single "Nescio". The follow-up "Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof" was another hit, but tensions between the group and producer Jaap Eggermont led to the departure of Peters, and a change in the group's working methods. In future, they would produce their own material and bring in guest musicians as required.

The album Henk - which included such classic songs as Bike In Head, Home Before Dark and Port Of Amsterdam - was recorded as a three-piece, after which new bassist Joke Geraets became the first female member of The Nits, completing the line-up that would go on to enjoy commercial success with single and album In the Dutch Mountains (1987). Its title track became a European hit and one of the band's biggest. It was accompanied by a video with just the image of man in a rowing boat. Follow-up J.O.S. Days was a successful single as well. The group's extensive tours during this period led to the accomplished live triple-LP Urk (1989) which became their best-selling album. The live version of Adieu Sweet Bahnhof was released as a single, again accompanied by a video. It became a Top 30 hit for the band in Holland. Urk also featured live versions of songs from Hat, the band's 1988 6-song EP, including popular songs like The Dream, Bauhaus Chair and The Train.
Giant Normal Dwarf, Ting & Hjuvi

When Geraets fell ill with a muscular disease, meaning that she was unable to play bass, the group (now using the shortened name "Nits", often rendered in capitals to emphasise the absence of the definite article) continued as a trio. Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) was a kaleidoscopic affair which at first glance seemed like a return to the psychedelia of "I Am the Walrus" and "Glass Onion" but was actually inspired by Hofstede's desire to write musical fairy tales for his newborn child. The subsequent album Ting (1992) was a return to a much more minimalist approach, both with respect to the emphasis on the piano and the inspiration of Philip Glass on several songs. At the same time as working on Ting, the group were also preparing material for a TV special with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mainly composed by Stips, this was later issued as the album Hjuvi - A Rhapsody In Time.

The 1994 album dA dA dA was something of a return to basics, with "traditional" songwriting largely replacing the quirkiness of recent Nits releases, and the group's early influences once again to the fore. The album was the first Nits material to gain a release in the United States. Ironically for a group that had always performed in English, regarding it as a necessary evil for international success, recognition in the major English-speaking markets always eluded them. dA dA dA, despite critical acclaim in both the UK and USA, still failed to break the group in either market.

In 1995, the group released Nest, a 20-track retrospective album, and the accompanying tour ended on a high note with a concert broadcast live on television from the Uitmarkt festival. Stips then left to pursue a solo career.
The group continued, releasing the introspective albums Alankomaat (1998) - which featured the singles Sister Rosa and Robinson, and fan favourite Three Sisters - and Wool (2000), followed by another retrospective, Hits.
The group continues to perform to this day following the return of keyboard player Robert Jan Stips in 2003 for the release of the album 1974, commemorating the year of their formation.

A new album titled Les Nuits was released in October 2005. Three of the songs on the album - The Laundrette, The Key Shop and The Pizzeria - were about the murder of film director Theo Van Gogh, which happened in the street where Henk Hofstede lived. The title track of the album would pop up on the band's setlists for many years to come. After an extensive tour and some solo activity, the band returned to the studio in mid-2007 to record the album Doing the Dishes, released in January 2008. The album went top 10 in the Netherlands (for the first time since URK in 1989), had an airplay hit in The Flowers and was once again followed by a tour. Many of the album's songs were performed live. In 2009, the next album and tour, Strawberry Wood, a top 15 hit on the Dutch album chart, followed. It was preceded by the single Hawelka.
Malpensa, NITS? & Hotel Europa

In early 2012, the Nits released the album Malpensa, to positive reviews and fan reactions. It contains a collaboration with Colin Benders of Kyteman on the track "Bad Government". The songs "Love-Locks" and "Man on a Wire" were released as singles, as well as "Bad Government", which was re-done with Perquisite and Dazzled Kid for the single remix. The song "Schwebebahn" finds the band singing in German for the first time. In 2013, the Nits composed and produced the music of the documentary The King of Mount Ventoux by director Fons Feyaerts. The 7-track soundtrack was released on iTunes and Spotify. 2014 and 2015 focused on the '40 years of NITS' anniversary. A 3CD compilation album spanning the band's whole career was released in 2014, which contained three unreleased tracks. In March 2015, the band released Hotel Europa, a double live album with songs ranging from Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) to Malpensa (2012), with exception of a live version of "In the Dutch Mountains". The album received rave reviews and entered the Dutch album charts at #5, making it their highest charting album since Urk (#3, 1989) and their first Top 10 album since Doing the Dishes (#8, 2008).

In November 2015, all Nits albums were released on digital platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music.
TING! with Scapino Ballet & new album 'angst'.In 2016 the band played 20 shows with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. The show, entitled TING!, featured 20 NITS songs including "Nescio", "Five Fingers", "The Long Song", "The Swimmers" and "In the Dutch Mountains". More than 20,000 people saw the show in Rotterdam. A set up that currently re-run in Amsterdam..

In August 2017 new album and tour angst were announced for September. Preceded by the songs "Flowershop Forget-Me-Not", "Yellow Socks & Angst" and "Pockets Of Rain". On Friday September 15 "Yellow Socks & Angst" was added to Spotify's popular New Music Friday playlist. angst was released by the band's own WERF Records and largely sold through the band's own website. Despite this, on the back of very good reviews in OOR, Algemeen Dagblad and Lust For Life a.o., and promo shows on Dutch Radio, it entered the Dutch Album Top 100 at #40. The European 2017-2018 tour started in September 2017.



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Nits were still years away from settling into their signature sound, but their debut album is probably a better indicator of the band's later direction (the Robert J Stips era) than the trio of colder, more post-punk albums they released after The Nits. Here, the influence of The Beatles is prevalent. In fact, this sounds like an album Paul McCartney could have made in 1978 (I prefer it to London Town). A little artsy, a little new wavy, but mostly these songs are clever, melodic, sunny & uplifting progressive pop from cool, drizzly, foggy & rainy lowlands. And "Tutti Ragazzi" remains a classic!

 The Nits ‎- The Nits   (flac  226mb)

01 Rails And Rain 3:18
02 Tutti Ragazzi 2:28
03 Mister Mister 3:01
04 Fantasies And Factories 3:40
05 So In Love 3:30
06 London Letters 3:32
07 Yes Or No 3:03
08 After Thoughts 3:20
09 Amarilla 3:44
10 Dancing Girl - Red Cat 5:15
11 Susan My Love 2:31
12 Caravan 3:45

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When Dutch new wavers the Nits released their self-titled debut album in 1978 on an independent label, no one would have predicted that they would become one of the most exciting bands in modern music. Signing to CBS and releasing their second album Tent in 1979, the band took a huge step forward in dynamics, arrangement, imagination, and songwriting. Vocalist/keyboardist Henk Hofstede, and guitarist/vocalist Michiel Peters are distinctive talents, both working on different tangents, yet finding common musical ground. Imagine XTC with a pinch of the Residents, a slice of Devo and two cups of Beatles' chord changes, and then cook it in the inventiveness of early 10cc. Top-notch production by the band (with manager Aad Link), and former Supersister member (and future Nit), Robert Jan Stips make the songs come alive, and are as aurally exciting as the melodies themselves. For a band to go out on a limb and be experimental on one track ("Ping Pong"), then follow it up with a catchy single ("Tutti Ragazzi") makes for an interesting listen, to say the least. "The Young Reporter" recalls the Attractions at their slickest. "Umbrella," "1:30" "Some Other Night," and "Out Of Suburbia" are thinly veiled (yet brilliantly executed) Beatles rewrites. All in all, a sophomore release that makes the listener actually forget the debut, as good as it was!

The Nits - Tent  (flac  285mb)
 
01 Tent 2:05
02 A To B; C To D 3:01
03 The Young Reporter 2:40
04 4 Ankles 2:20
05 Hook Of Holland 3:43
06 Frozen Fred 2:25
07 Ping Pong 2:35
08 Tutti Ragazzi 2:11
09 Out Of Suburbia 2:35
10 Bungalow 2:25
11 1:30 3:08
12 Johnny Said Silver 2:43
13 Who's The Killer 2:30
14 Take A Piece 2:05
15 Tent (Reprise) 1:00

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After an enjoyable but relatively tame debut from 1978 and a creative leap forward with 1979's Tent, the Nits took a detour for this 1981 release, losing the casual fan along the way but gaining far more credibility and more fervent adulation from their remaining fans. New Flat is a strange album, plain and simple. Gone are the straightforward melodic hooks of their previous albums, replaced by cerebral hooks that creep up on you when you least expect it. No Beatlesque chord changes here. Oddly enough, strange strums, beats, clicks, ticks, and plenty of studio tricks have replaced them. In fact, rhythm seems to be the focus here, with many songs based around tribal-like thumps. "Zebra" has got to be one of the strangest songs this side of the Residents and it is based around a strange rhythm and distant shouted and whispered vocals and keyboards. "Office at Night" does have a tortured, Lennon-esque vocal for the verses, but the chorus has a haunting Kraftewerk-like beauty to it. "New Flat," the album opener, sounds like an early Devo outtake. Other tracks seem stripped down to their basics, then disassembled and rearranged for no apparent reason. Funny thing is, it all works brilliantly. The Nits may be artsy-fartsy, but they still know how to reel in the listener. Inside every twist and turn is a hook. It may be a small, little hook, but it makes perfect sense. There is not a sound on this album that is insignificant. Everything is perfectly in place, but it's up to the listener to find it all. Could this be the first interactive album released? Maybe not intentionally, but you never know.

 The Nits - New Flat     (flac  206mb)

01 New Flat 2:45
02 Holiday On Ice 3:00
03 Saragossa 2:29
04 Office At Night3:07
05 Uncle On Mars 3:53
06 Statue 3:18
07 His First Object 2:21
08 Different Kitchen 3:35
09 Safety In Numbers 3:12
10 Bobby Solo 2:09
11 Zebra 2:09
12 Rubber Gloves 2:34
13 Bite Better Bark 2:59
14 Aloha Drums 3:06

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The Nits' existential synthpop on Work benefited from baroque arrangements (clarinet, oboe, violin, double bass), allowing it to indulge on anxiety-inducing atmospheres (the disquieting stage-play of "Hobbyland", the worrisome sketch "Umbrella Army"), but still extruded a charming playfulness (the cheeky jogging of "Slip of the Tongue", the slightly mad ping-pong between choirs, lounge and chamber music in "Tables and Chairs") and an epic flair (the electronic-pop express of "Empty Room", the Kraftwerk-inspired auditorium-performance of "Red Tape"), eventually reaching an apex in tracks like the majestic vacuum of "Lodger" and the resigned paranoia "Hands Οn Τhe Watch". This belongs more to theater than music, their deformed pantomimes able to conjure a wide array of emotions.

The Nits - Work (flac  230mb)

01 The Lodger 2:32
02 Footprint 3:29
03 Hobbyland 3:27
04 Empty Room 4:21
05 Umbrella Army 1:48
06 Slip Of The Tongue 3:33
07 Tables And Chairs 3:10
08 Red Tape 2:31
09 Buildings 2:41
10 Hands Of The Watch 3:04
11 Man-Friday 2:25
12 Suddenly I Met Your Face 2:12
13 Umbrella Army II 1:17
14 Goodbye, Mr. Chips! 2:46
15 Oriental Skies 2:14

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RhoDeo 1834 Roots

Hello, Garinagu in Garifuna are Indigenous of mixed-race descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib, European, and Arawak people. Although their background is the Lesser Antilles, since 1797, the Garifuna people are from Central America, along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, with smaller populations in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua. They arrived there after being exiled from the islands of the Lesser Antilles by British colonial administration as Black Caribs after a series of slave revolts. Those Caribs deemed to have had less African admixture were not exiled, and are still living in the islands. Three wonderful albums up for grabs here ....


Today's artist is a music producer and musician, and the founder and director of Stonetree Records, an independent record label and music recording studio based in Benque Viejo del Carmen in Belize. He has produced over 30 albums featuring the musical styles of Belize and the region. Since founding Stonetree in 1995, Duran has been a promoter of Belizean music overseas, attending World Music trade fairs and presenting local artists in music festivals around the world. In 2007 he received the WOMEX award alongside Andy Palacio for their work on the Watina album, voted by Amazon.com as the #1 World Music album of all time...... N'Joy

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More than ten years ago, Ivan Duran, a white Belizian, started Stonetree Records to document the music of the Garifuna (gar-RI-foo-nah), one of Central America's forgotten minorities.

Some history: the Garifuna are descendants of African slaves who escaped from a massive shipwreck on the island of Saint Vincent in 1635. The island of Saint Vincent was inhabited by descendent's of a Native tribe from mainland South America called the Kalipuna. They had invaded the island and slaughtered all the men of the Arawak Indians who had lived there and took their women for wives. When the Spanish conquered the Kalipuna/Arawaks they called them Caribe (cannibal). It's the word that gave rise to the term Caribbean. In 1635 two slave ships sank off the coast of Saint Vincent. After the expected bloodshed died down Africans and Natives intermarried and merged cultures to produce the Garifuna. This race of independent black Indians posed a problem for the colonial slave masters, who tried to alternately enslave and deport them. Eventually they were resettled in what is today Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize, the area known as the Mosquito Coast. The United Nations UNESCO arm recognizes their music and culture as a threatened one, part of humanity's intangible treasures. Their language includes words from Arawak, French, Yoruba, Bantu, Swahili, English, and Spanish and the culture is a blend of African, Catholic and Native American traditions. Against all odds, and partially because they have been marginalized due to racism, Garifuna culture still exhibits strong elements of ancient Native American traditions and the rhythms of the African motherland.

Ivan Duran was born in Belize and picked up guitar as a teen. He studied formally in Mexico, Spain, and Cuba at the Escuela Nacional de Música where he took classical and jazz training. In 1993, back in Belize, he began working with Andy Palacio, the best-known musician in Belize. When Duran realized Palacio couldn't record his music locally, he created Stonetree Records. Stonetree records Creole, Maya, and Garifuna artists, but it was the music of Palacio that took the label worldwide. When Palacio's Watina was licensed by Cumbancha Records in 2007, the album caused a worldwide sensation, reaching number one on many international world music charts and giving the music and the culture of the Garifuna more visibility than it has ever had. In the process of recording many Garifuna artists over the years, Duran began to see that Garifuna women, mostly hired as backup singers, knew a lot more traditional music than the men, who often used elements of modern international culture in their music. Duran found the women were the primary culture bearers and the songs they sang, be they traditional or newly composed, sung at ceremonies or in secular settings, contained important cultural messages for the Garifuna community. After more than a decade of research, and with the help of Palacio, Duran put together the music for Garifuna Women's Project, naming the collective Umalali. ("Umalali" is the Garifuna word for voice.)

When Duran set out to record a representative collection of female singers and songwriters, he had no pretense about "preserving" a tradition. Like many traditional cultures, the Garifuna do not separate music into folk and popular, or traditional and contemporary. The same melodies with different words, and the same words with different melodies, pop up all along the Mosquito Coast. Palacio put together a band of backing musicians who brought elements of Trinidad's soca, Jamaica's reggae, and the rhythms of Cuba to the music's modern punta rock and primal Afro/Amerindian styles and the sessions commenced. The women Duran and Palacio chose to record represent a wide cross section of Garifuna styles. Sofia Blanco, from Livingston, Guatemala, comes from a long line of female singers and often performs with her husband Goyo. Her singing is an American echo of the women's vocal music of Mali. Silvia Blanco, Sofia's daughter, knows many traditional songs and composes her own tunes as well. Desere Diego is a ceremonial singer from Belize, who summons the ancestral spirits with her music. She also has a wide knowledge of traditional secular songs. Marcela Torres is from Honduras, Rosa Bermudez, Sarita Martinez, and Elodia Nolberto are singers from Southern Belize. Bernadine Flores is another woman from a musical family; the grand-niece of the late Isabel Flores, a noted drummer, singer and spiritual teacher. Julia Lewis also took part in the sessions.

Several artists from Garifuna Women's Project were set to tour with Palacio on a worldwide tour to support the success of Watina, but Palacio suffered a massive heart attack and died in January of 2008, putting the project on hold.

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The tale of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective traces its roots to the early 1980s, when a teenage Palacio traveled from his home in the Central American country of Belize to Nicaragua to serve in a literacy campaign. Palacio is Garifuna, a unique culture based on the Caribbean coast of Central America that blends elements of West African and Native Caribbean heritage. Andy was told that Nicaragua’s local Garifuna traditions and language were all but extinct. He was en route via boat to the Nicaraguan village of Orinoco to begin his first literacy assignment, when a storm forced a change of direction, leading to a surprise encounter that had a lasting impact on Palacio’s music, career, and life mission.

To avoid his own mid-lagoon shipwreck, Palacio’s boat captain decided to take a detour to a nearby village until the storm passed. He said to Palacio, “There is a Garifuna man in this village. You should talk in your language and see how he reacts.” When the eighteen year-old Palacio greeted the old man, Mr. López, in the Garifuna tongue, the elder replied in complete disbelief, “Are you telling the truth?” “I told him, ‘Yes, my uncle; I am Garifuna just like you,’” explains Palacio. “He embraced me and would not let go. He could not believe a man so young could speak Garifuna, having imagined the language would perish with him.”

“From that day I realized that what was happening in Nicaragua, the disappearance of Garifuna culture, foreshadowed what was going to happen in Belize less than a generation down the road,” recalls Palacio. “I decided to follow my passion and focus more on performing Garifuna music as a way to keep the traditions alive long into the future.” At first, Palacio became a local star of Punta rock, an upbeat Garifuna dance music infused with synthetic beats and keyboards. The Punta rock movement of the ‘90s was in keeping with trends established by successful world music artists such as zouk pioneers Kassav who blended the latest studio technology with their traditional music. But that was not to be Palacio’s ultimate musical course.

“Under the direction of my producer Ivan Duran, I made a 180 degree turn,” exclaims Palacio, in his lilting, Caribbean-inflected English. “And I am so happy now to take a completely human experience onto the stage as opposed to where I saw myself heading in the mid ’90s with samplers, sequencers, and instrumental backing tracks. I look back and I cringe. I don’t feel a need to be devoid of technology, I do not want to become a slave to it.”


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Each track on Wátina is based on a traditional Garifuna rhythm and all of the lyrics are in the Garifuna tongue—a unique and endangered language whose root is Arawak influenced by Carib, French, and, possibly, West African languages. In 2001, UNESCO declared the Garifuna language, music, and dance Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As an official within Belize’s Ministry of Culture at that time, Andy Palacio played a role in securing that proclamation. Today, Palacio is one of those rare musicians with one foot in the world of cultural diplomacy and another foot on the performance stage. His new album brings together his dual passion for the safeguarding of culture and making modern music tied to Garifuna roots.

The songs on Wátina are overflowing with powerful messages and symbolism that speak to the need for the Garifuna to cherish and celebrate their heritage. “Garifuna music in recent times has been popular for punta and parranda; dance oriented music forms for carnival or the dance floor,” says Palacio. “But on this album we’re bringing attention to songs that aren’t like that. ‘Weyu Larigi Weyu,’ for example, which means “Day by Day,’ uses a rhythm extracted from ritual music called dügü, a traditional healing ceremony that unites family members from all over Central America. It is a prayer asking God’s blessings for our people and asking for guidance, strength, and healing in an afflicted world.”

“Ámuñegü”—which is Garifuna for “In Times to Come”— asks “Who will speak to me in Garifuna in times to come? Who will perform the dügü? Who will perform the arumahani song in times to come? We must preserve Garifuna culture now, lest we lose it altogether in times to come.”

Palacio is joined by 75-year-old Garifuna legend Paul Nabor on “Ayó Da,” a song which Nabor wrote 60 years ago to tell the family of a friend that their son was lost on a fishing trip on the river. “All Garifuna songs are very personal in that sense,” says producer Duran. “They are all true stories. This song is how he broke the news to everyone. He doesn’t say it in the song, but Paul told us he thinks that a crocodile ate his friend. The song title simply means ‘Goodbye.’”

Another song, “Baba,” was composed by a young Garifuna songwriter named Adrian Martinez. “‘Baba’ has become like an anthem performed in every Garifuna church,” Duran explains. “It talks about fate. Baba has many meanings: Father, Father as God, and it also could be an ancestor from your family who has died. Ancestors play an important role in Garifuna culture.” Beautiful vocals and chants combine with the Garifuna primero and segunda drums to provide an exciting mix of African and Caribbean rhythms and influences.
Wátina, was released in March of 2007. It has been popular on world music charts around the globe, holding a position in the Top Five on European charts for months at a time.

Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective - Watina   (flac  249mb)
 
01 Wátina (I Called Out) 4:45
02 Weyu Larigi Weyu (Day By Day) 4:24
03 Miami 3:46
04 Baba (Father) 4:03
05 Lidan Aban (Together) 4:46
06 Gaganbadibá (Take Advice) 4:19
07 Beiba (Go Away) 4:08
08 Sin Precio (Worthless) 3:17
09 Yagane (My Canoe) 2:25
10 Águyuha Nidúheñu (My People Have Moved On) 5:14
11 Ayó Da (Goodbye My Dear) 3:29
12 Ámuñegü (In Times To Come) 5:28

Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective - Watina   (ogg  111mb)

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Umalali is not a group name, but the Garifuna word for voice. The Garifuna are descendents of African slaves who escaped from a massive shipwreck in 1635. They intermarried with Carib and Arawak Indians and evolved their own culture over the centuries. The were never conquered by the slave masters, but have been a marginalized minority for years, with a population centered in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Belize. The United Nations UNESCO arm recognizes their music and culture as a threatened one, part of humanity's intangible treasures. The Garifuna Women's Project is a collection of traditional and composed songs by various well-regarded Garifuna female elders and youngsters. Garifuna music has elements of African, Caribbean, and Native American music, in particular the soca of Trinidad, the reggae of Jamaica, and the rhythms of Cuba. To North American ears the sounds are both strangely familiar and slightly alien, blending many common elements in a unique way. The album was produced by Ivan Duran, the white Belizian who started Stonetree Records to document the music of the Garifuna. The songs are traditional, even those that are newly composed, because the Garifuna see music as an ongoing process of creation. Since it's a way to convey cultural knowledge and communicate with the ancestors, songs are not owned, although everyone knows who composed the most popular tunes. Duran and the backing musicians made no attempt to keep the music traditional, since the Garifuna, like seemingly everyone else in the world, are tech-savvy and own computers and cell phones. The album is best listened to as a single piece of music -- a ceremony, if you will -- but individual performers and arrangements do stand out. "Barübana Yagien" sounds like a combination of calypso and Congolese rhumba, while Silvia Blanco's singing calls to mind the sound of Mali's Oumou Sangare. The driving bass drums and sinuous electric guitar keep the tune moving at a rapid pace. "Hatie," by Sarita Martinez, is the tale of the hurricane that devastated Central America in 1961. It lays spaghetti Western guitar twang on top of a rolling punta rock backbeat complemented by strong call-and-response vocals. Marcela Torres has a forceful alto that stands up to the bass drums that sound like the throbbing heart of West Africa on "Anaha Ya." Sofia Blanco, one of the album's strongest vocalists, and Silvia's mom, sings lead on "Nibari" and "Yündüya Weyu." The first is a greeting to a new grandson and again sounds like the women's vocal music of Mali. Blanco's keening vocals are given minimal accompaniment by drums and guitar to preserve their primal power. "Yündüya Weyu" is more uptempo, with hints of Cuba, West Africa, and Brazil in its paranda rhythm. "Lirun Biganute" is Julia Lewis' lament for her murdered son accompanied only by a treble-heavy electric guitar that sounds oddly like an autoharp. Garifuna women have been given the task of bearing their culture on to future generations. By combining traditional vocals with modern arrangements, Duran and the Garifuna Women's Project singers hope to attract young people and world music lovers to this vital, irreplaceable culture.

   The Garifuna Women's Project - Umalali   ( flac  225mb)

01 Nibari (My Grandchild) 3:43
02 Mérua 3:10
03 Yündüya Weyu (The Sun Has Set) 3:57
04 Barübana Yagien (Take Me Away) 3:34
05 Hattie 4:02
06 Luwübüri Sigala (Hills Of Tegucigalpa) 3:25
07 Anaha Ya (Here I Am) 4:13
08 Tuguchili Elia (Elia's Father) 2:17
09 Fuleisei (Favours) 2:03
10 Uruwei (The Government) 2:02
11 Áfayahádina (I Have Traveled) 3:41
12 Lirun Biganute (Sad News) 2:01

   The Garifuna Women's Project - Umalali (ogg  96mb)

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The Garifuna communities in Belize and nearby countries may well feel a sense of loss at the passing of Andy Palacio, the Collective's guiding light in the past decade. That said this re-grouped version of the Garifuna Collective sounds buoyant and strong, not at all adrift, but rather, they exhibit enough elasticity as a musical group to accomodate the work of a few different singers. West African-style vocal melodies are filtered thru Amer-Indian sensibilities. There's a more pronounced African influence this time, and the tunes sound very "organic," relying on clean or slightly gritty electric guitars and bass over a few layers of hand percussion that sound collectively more West-African than say, Cuban. No musical athletes here, but solid grooving and many brief moments of fine guitar and vocal interplay. The producer / recording engineers seem to appreciate the vintage sound of certain classic African recordings, and the production is a somewhat sonically cleaner version of the old sound, meaning that some the "grit" is left in.

This Garifuna music album has the most useful liner notes for those interested in the Garífuna language or in ethnomusicology or anthropological aspects of Garífuna music. It has the words of the songs in Garífuna with an English translation. It also has a summary of what type of song it is and what would have been the occassion to write this song. It has beautiful color photos of both common and rare instruments that the Garífunas use like the jaw bone of a horse or mule and claves both instruments of African origin and Garífunas playing music in traditional settings.

 The Garifuna Collective - Ayo   (flac  263mb)

01 Ayo 2:35
02 Galuma 2:50
03 Kame Bawara 3:18
04 Ubou 3:40
05 Mongulu 3:18
06 Pomona 3:05
07 Beiba Nuwari 2:48
08 Gudemei 4:22
09 Dungua 3:12
10 Aganba 3:45
11 Alagan 3:12
12 Seremei Buguya 4:12

The Garifuna Collective - Ayo (ogg  111mb)

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RhoDeo 1834 Ixtlan 2

Hello, F1 started on the 2nd part of the season today at the famous Spa circuit, it started with an Hulkenberg strike who launched Alonso in the air and bounced of Ericsson's halo, clipped Ricciardo who in turn took out Raikonen..nice. Once again those in front need to be sharp in qualifying and make sure they won't be compromised by crashing cars at the start. Verstappen stayed out of trouble and quickly overtook the Force Indias of Ocon and Perez and that was it for the Dutchman, no man's land for the rest of the race Hamilton too far ahead and no one in sight at the back. In fact the whole race proved that on a circuit where there's chances to overtake, once the positions are settled there's not much going on anymore. Vettel cruised to victory without any pressure and is expected to win next week at Monza, but then this is motor-racing....


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 2 (mp3  59mb)

04 - Journey to Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan 25:04
05 - Journey to Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan 26:27
06 - Journey to Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan 26:54

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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)

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Sundaze 1834

Hello, psychedelics can enable a broad and paradoxical spectrum of linguistic phenomena from the unspeakability of mystical experience to the eloquence of the songs of the shaman or curandera. Interior dialogues with the Other, whether framed as the voice of the Logos, an alien download, or communion with ancestors and spirits, are relatively common. Sentient visual languages are encountered, their forms unrelated to the representation of speech in natural language writing systems. And then there are the Bardo experiences......




Today's Artists are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1991, and who are currently signed to London-based label Fire Records. Their music is often classified as space rock, acid rock, post-rock, shoegazing, noise or psychedelic rock. Some album titles have been derived from the names of esoteric psychedelic substances. Their sound has been likened to Pink Floyd, Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine amongst others. .....N'Joy

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Bardo Pond was the flagship band of Philly's "Psychedelphia" space rock movement, which also included the likes of Aspera, Asteroid No. 4, the Azusa Plane, and tangentially the Lilys. Explicitly drug-inspired -- their titles were filled with obscure references to psychedelics -- they favored lengthy, deliberate sound explorations filled with all the hallmarks of modern-day space rock: droning guitars, thick distortion, feedback, reverb, and washes of white noise. Hints of blues structure often cropped up, but Bardo Pond's earliest roots lay with avant-garde noisemakers from the realm of free jazz and from New York's no wave movement and downtown Knitting Factory scene. As their musicianship improved, the band gradually incorporated more traditional influences, but maintained their affinity for the outer fringes of music. Thus, their brand of space rock echoed not just genre staples like Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, but jam-happy Krautrockers (Amon Düül, Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru) and experimental indie heroes (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and especially Spacemen 3). With a steady stream of releases on Matador, the band stuck around long enough to draw comparisons to the spacier, noisier contingent of post-rockers, like Mogwai and Flying Saucer Attack.

Bardo Pond was formed in Philadelphia in 1989 by guitar-playing brothers Michael and John Gibbons, who'd long had an interest in making free-form noise, though they didn't pick up non-percussion instruments until attending art school in their twenties. Their first collaborator was guitarist Clint Takeda, a friend of Michael's who shared their enthusiasm for free music. Over the next two years, the band held twice-weekly jam sessions in their living room. At first, their aesthetic was one of naïve, unfettered freedom, but they slowly grew convinced of the need for some semblance of structure and proper instrumental technique. Takeda christened the band Bardo Pond in 1991, after a location described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. By that time, they'd picked up new members in vocalist/flute player Isobel Sollenberger and drummer Bob Sentz, both art academy classmates of the Gibbons brothers.

Over 1992-1993, Bardo Pond issued five self-released cassettes. No Hashish No Change Money No Saki Saki got remastered and rereleased in 2009 Toward the end of that run, Sentz quit the band to concentrate on his painting, and was replaced by Joe Culver. Takeda had begun to drift away from the band after graduation, moving first to New York and then to Seattle, which gave Michael Gibbons a chance to develop his guitar playing further. The band came to the attention of the small, singles-oriented Compulsiv label, and issued their first proper 7", "Die Easy" b/w "Apple Eye," in early 1994; another one, "Trip Fuck" b/w "Hummingbird Mountain," arrived not long after on the Drunken Fish imprint. A third single, "Dragonfly" b/w "Blues Tune," was out by the end of the year, and the group began work on its full-length debut for Drunken Fish. Clint Takeda, who'd kept in touch with the band, decided he wanted to return, and was brought back into the fold as the full-time bassist.

Bardo Pond issued its first album, Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15, in early 1995; its title was taken from the scientific name for the notorious hallucinogenic toad found in the western U.S. The CD version appended "Amen 29:15," a near-half-hour jam that marked Takeda's recorded debut with the band. Later that year, Compulsiv released a CD EP of leftover tracks called Big Laughing Jym. Bufo Alvarius sparked the interest of Matador Records, which signed Bardo Pond and issued their breakthrough sophomore effort, Amanita, in 1996. Titled after a little-known hallucinogen from India, the album won critical praise and substantially heightened the band's profile, as did their increasingly improvisational live shows.

1997's Lapsed was a leaner, more focused effort that refined and sharpened Bardo Pond's sound; it too was greeted enthusiastically, with many fans still ranking it as the group's finest effort. That same year, the quintet's side project with New Zealand guitarist Roy Montgomery, Hash Jar Tempo, saw the release of the first of two albums; titled Well Oiled, it had been recorded during a 1995 jam session, and appeared on Drunken Fish. The results of another jam session, this one from 1998, were issued a year later as Under Glass. Bardo Pond itself also returned in 1999 with Set and Setting, which had second drummer Ed Farnsworth beginning to assume some of new family man Culver's duties. It also found Sollenberger debuting her new second instrument, violin.

2000 saw the band embarking on several side ventures from Matador; there was a 10" limited-edition EP on Three Lobed called Slab, which featured outtakes from the Set and Setting sessions, and they also inaugurated a series of self-released CD-Rs (sold through their website and on tours) with Vol. I. Like its followers, Vol. I was a collection of improvisational jams and home-studio outtakes. The band returned with its fourth Matador album, Dilate, in 2001; by now, Culver had officially retired from the band, leaving Farnsworth as the full-time drummer. A tour with Mogwai followed in support that spring, and Matador issued a small-scale EP culling performances from both bands. Three more volumes in the Bardo Pond CD-R series followed over 2002-2003, as well as another EP for Three Lobed, 2002's Purposeful Availment. In the meantime, Bardo Pond and Matador abruptly parted ways; after playing the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, the band signed with its spin-off label of the same name, and debuted with the full-length On the Ellipse in 2003. 2005 saw a wider release of the material from the CD-R series in Selections, Vols. 1-4, a two-disc collection of highlights. Ticket Crystals, a mellower, more atmospheric work, arrived the following year.

In 2012, the band issued Yntra, a three-song EP recorded for Southern Records spin-off label Latitudes while the band was on a stopover in London. They issued the two-track covers 12" Rise Above It All on Record Store Day in April of 2013, featuring readings of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" and Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has a Master Plan." This was followed by the full-length Peace on Venus in October. Refulgo, a double LP compilation of tracks recorded prior to the release of Bufo Alvarius, appeared on Three Lobed in 2014. Two more Record Store Day EPs, Looking for Another Place and Is There a Heaven?, respectively appeared in 2014 and 2015, and were compiled on the triple-CD Record Store Day Trilogy. Also in 2015, the group shared a split-LP with Yo La Tengo as part of Three Lobed's Parallelogram series. In 2016, Bardo Pond collaborated with Acid Mothers Temple and Guru Guru, resulting in double-LP Acid Guru Pond. Bardo Pond's full-length Under the Pines followed in 2017, and Volume 8 appeared in 2018.

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The members of Bardo Pond also operate a number of side projects.

500 mg is Michael Gibbons' solo project.

Alasehir is a psychedelic/stoner rock trio featuring Michael Gibbons, John Gibbons and Jason Kourkounis.

Alumbrados produces psychedelic folk/drone music and consists of Michael Gibbons, John Gibbons, Michael Zanghi and Aaron Igler.

Prairie Dog Flesh is more improvisational and rearranges the members of Bardo Pond with Takeda on vocals.

Hash Jar Tempo is a collaboration between Bardo Pond and Roy Montgomery. A pun on Ash Ra Tempel, this project resulted from two "marathon jam/recording sessions" between the two parties and produced two albums: Well Oiled (released in 1997, recorded in 1995) and Under Glass (released in 1999, recorded in 1998).

LSD Pond is a collaboration between Bardo Pond and Japanese psychedelic rock band LSD March. A self-titled album was released in 2008 and contains two discs with live recordings of two nights of jamming.

Moon Phantoms is a collaboration between Bardo Pond and Japanese psychedelic rock band Suishou No Fune. Their self-titled album was released in 2009.

Third Troll features Michael and John Gibbons (guitars), Sollenberger (flute), and includes Kevin Moist (saxophone) and Aaron Igler (synths).

Baikal conducts free form psych experiments. The band consists of John Gibbons, Michael Gibbons, Clint Takeda and Jason Kourkonis. They have released a self-titled album on Important Records.

Vapour Theories is a duo of Michael and John Gibbons. They have released two albums: 'Decant' (self-released), and 'Joint Chiefs' (The Lotus Sound).

Jason Kourkounis participated as drummer 72 in the Boredoms' 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7, 2007, at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York. He is also currently in Hot Snakes and The Night Marchers, and previously played drums for The Delta 72, The Burning Brides, and Mule (band).

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The broken-down blues of Bardo Pond might just alter the world. The cilia-pulling strains of Set and Setting become utterly more infectious with each new spin. It's as though Bardo Pond is tugging the earth into their psychedelic orbit without anyone's knowledge or consent. The band is at their most effective on instrumental cuts like "Datura" and the violin-based "Cross Current." Here, sounds get their most stretched out and visual. On the whole, Set and Setting is another cohesive step forward, a slow parade of seductive experimentation and noise that crawls on rock's foundation and doesn't care what anyone thinks. This description could also apply to some of Sonic Youth's better music. Imagine then, Sonic Youth strewn across the desert on blotter acid; Set and Setting probably sounds something like that.

Bardo Pond - Set And Setting (flac  323mb)

01 Walking Stick Man 11:01
02 This Time (So Fucked) 4:00
03 Datura 8:03
04 Again 6:33
05 Lull 2:16
06 Cross Current 6:36
07 Crawl Away 9:26
08 #3 1:15

Bardo Pond - Set And Setting  (ogg 104mb)

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On its sixth album, Dilate, Bardo Pond cuts through the dense, smoky haze of Set and Setting and Lapsed to deliver its most refined collection to date. Even the title's drug reference (the band's first three releases were named after various mind-altering toads and mushrooms) is subtler, yet more evocative. Bardo Pond's roaring guitars, trippy flutes, and pummeling drums are all still in place, but now the group uses them sparingly instead of in heroic doses. Indeed, the album's best moments mix equally vast amounts of noise and space, giving Dilate an appropriately expansive feel. Isobel Sollenberger's double-tracked vocals take the lead on "Sunrise" and "Inside," a pair of spacy epics that hover around the edges of pop before veering into guitar maelstroms. The album also celebrates the prettier, emotional side of Bardo Pond's music, which the group has often obscured with clouds of distortion. A melancholy beauty permeates the string-driven instrumental "Two Planes" as well as rolling, folk-meets-fuzz ballads like "Aphasia" and "Favorite Uncle." These songs and Dilate's centerpiece, "Despite the Roar" (which shimmers like heat distortion before exploding into a trippy climax after five and half minutes), suggest vulnerability in a gauzy, abstract way that's more affecting than directly stating it. But the album also indulges Bardo Pond's interest in textures, as the Eastern-inspired motifs of "Swig" and subtle guitar washes and backward snares of "Hum" prove. However, it wouldn't be a Bardo Pond album without some glorious guitar excesses, and Dilate delivers with the heavy, wittily named "Lb.," a kinetic piece of stoner rock more in keeping with the group's two previous efforts. And though it's over 11 minutes long, the album closer "Ganges" manages to keep its mix of crunchy riffs and droning strings inventive throughout. Likewise, Dilate proves that the members of Bardo Pond keep finding ways to reinvent their sound, surpassing themselves each time they do.

Bardo Pond - Dilate  (flac 432mb)

01 Two Planes 7:26
02 Sunrise 5:26
03 Inside 11:43
04 Aphasia 6:02
05 Favorite Uncle 5:58
06 Swig 4:23
07 Despite The Roar 7:08
08 Lb. 8:31
09 Hum 3:43
10 Ganges 11:23

Bardo Pond - Dilate   (ogg 167mb)

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Another triumph, Bardo Pond's On the Ellipse proves that the band doesn't have to drastically change their music from album to album to keep it sounding fresh. Much like their former labelmates Mogwai, they continue to top themselves even if they're no longer among the most fashionable vanguard of underground rock. This album, Bardo Pond's sixth proper full-length, manages to be more abstract than 2001's Dilate, but it's just as accessible as that album, emphasizing the beauty of Isobel Sollenberger's vocals and flutes, as well as the restrained power of the band's formidable guitars and rhythm section. On the Ellipse is a much moodier experience, however, with most of its six songs hovering on the edge of reflective sadness and something darker. The outstanding album opener "JD" is an instant career highlight. Beginning with a relentless drone that switches between harsh and beautiful as it unfurls, the song lures the listener with five minutes of gentle acoustic guitars and Sollenberger's dreamy, brooding singing before unleashing a quintessentially Bardo Pond onslaught of distortion and drums. It's true that this description applies to most of the album -- and, indeed, most of the band's catalog -- but Pond remains the master of finding different ways to use extreme dynamics. "Dom's Lament" subtly shifts from quiet to loud while exploring the textures of its silken flutes, craggy guitars, and the quietly crisp drumming that holds it all together. The radiant, vaguely Indian "Test" floats on dense clouds of guitars and distant but powerful drums, lending it a beautiful but somewhat apocalyptic feel. "Every Man," a seven-minute epic, follows the more usual subdued brooding/slow-burning noise formula of the band's work, but the spare loveliness of its quiet sections and the washes of flutes in its louder parts reaffirm that nobody does stoned melancholy better than Pond. While the last third of On the Ellipse isn't as strong as the rest of the album, the post-modern hippie atmospherics of "Walking Clouds" and the dense, dour "Nights of Frogs" -- which recalls the band's Lapsed-era work -- don't detract from its hypnotic pull. While this album isn't radically different from the rest of Pond's work, the fact that it offers more of their compelling, challenging music is reason enough to celebrate it.

Bardo Pond - On The Ellipse  (flac 351mb)

01 JD 7:25
02 Every Man 9:00
03 Dom's Lament 6:45
04 Test 9:51
05 Walking Clouds 7:13
06 Night Of Frogs 12:57

Bardo Pond - On The Ellipse   (ogg 128mb)

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Hip-hop has mixtapes while modern psychedelia has the limited-edition CD-ROM release -- the same principle applies, though, in terms of getting music out there, beyond "official" efforts as such. Bardo Pond are up through six collections of experiments and jams as of mid-2005, with Selections, Vol. 1-4 being just that, a sampling of the first four of these often-wonderful releases. Given that Bardo Pond's raisons d'être are indeed long improvisations recorded as they happen, it's not entirely a sudden steering away in style, but this two-disc collection generally emphasizes the strictly musical side of the band, with Isobel Sollenberger contributing only fragmentary lyrics or gentle croons on the singing front (her flute work is often prominent, in contrast). Where she does come more to the fore, as with "E Dub," she can provide an almost startling focus to the compositions, but she is more content here to go with the flow, or rather, to be carried along with it. Starting with the sample-laden, slow-and-low "Sit Sleep," Selections, Vol. 1-4 touches on everything from (relatively) short edits to extremely long, detailed jams. If anything, the collection shows that far from simply having a one-note approach, the quintet can take basic principles and use them to test out a variety of approaches towards doing one's brain in, from monstrous demi-metal riffs to near-minimalist flow and hum. The ten-minute "Before," for instance, relies on an ominous mantra/melody crossed with violent solos and steady, increasingly forceful drumming, while "Montana Sacra" has its core drone acting as a base for a series of squalling if still restrained acid rock solos, a continual trading off. "Lomand" probably shows the most variety over its own length, from majestic descending riffs and drones to seemingly endless drift.

Bardo Pond - Selections - Volumes I-II (flac  361mb)

01 Sit Sleep 8:25
02 Cymbals 7:59
03 Before 10:07
04 Precious Metal 7:53
05 Alien Heat 9:21
06 Montana Sacra 15:40
07 Heaven 4:34

Bardo Pond - Selections - Volumes I-II  (ogg 128mb)

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Bardo Pond - Selections - Volumes III-IV (flac  396mb)

08 E Dub 9:00
09 Tanked 4:56
10 Lomand 15:59
11 Take What You Need 5:53
12 New Drunks 9:18
13 Marmada 19:24
14 Pangolin Dance 2:59

Bardo Pond - Selections - Volumes III-IV  (ogg 134mb)

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RhoDeo 1833 Grooves

Hello,



Today's artists are an American R&B and funk band whose popularity began in the mid-1970s and ran through the 1980s. Influences included Earth, Wind & Fire; Commodores; Chaka Khan; and Sly and the Family Stone. Signed to Mercury Records in 1976, Con Funk Shun enjoyed a decade of successful national and overseas tours, eleven chart-topping albums, and numerous hit singles on the Top R&B Singles chart....N'Joy

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Con Funk Shun was formed by high-school classmates Michael Cooper and Louis "Tony" McCall, along with Karl Fuller, Paul "Maceo" Harrell, Dennis Johnson, Cedric Martin, and Danny "Sweet Man" Thomas. All of them had been playing together since their high-school days in Vallejo, CA. Felton Pilate, also from Vallejo, joined the group after his band, a local rival, disbanded.

In the early '70s, the group was a backup band for the Soul Children with the name Project Soul. And when they weren't on the road with the Soul Children, they were creatively working with various Stax staff writers. In the mid-'70s, Project Soul made an effort to become a headliner, but they met dead-ends and little success. However, they found good fortune at Audio Dimensions, a Memphis recording studio owned by producer Ted Sturges. Around this time, he group named itself after the title of one of their instrumentals, "Con Funk Shun." During their three-year stint at Audio Dimensions, Sturges, besides owning the studio, was also Con Funk Shun's producer. Their association resulted in the group's first album, Organized Con Funk Shun.

As their sound developed, Pilate and Cooper emerged as the primary lead vocalists. Around the time their first album for Crankshaft Productions, Inc. was being recorded, the eighth member, MC and technician Dennis Johnson, left the group to attend seminary in California. By 1976, the group signed to Mercury, where they remained for ten years. Their first hit for Mercury was "Ffun," written by Michael Cooper as a tribute to the R&B/funk band Brick. One of the premiere party funk bands of its time, they also began recording ballads and instrumental tracks by the early '80s. Aside from being the primary musicians on all their albums, Con Funk Shun also contributed to each of their albums as writers, arrangers, and/or producers.

Burnin' Love, the septet's last album with Mercury, was recorded without their longtime musical center, Felton Pilate, who left the group in 1986 to become a successful producer. (Pilate eventually became the musical force behind MC Hammer.) Melvin Carter, a frequent collaborator of Con Funk Shun, joined the group upon Pilate's exit, and that same year Michael Cooper left for a solo career. Con Funk Shun disbanded after their last album with Mercury, but reunited in the '90s, and began performing at festivals and concerts around the world.

Pilate became the in-house record producer and songwriter for M.C. Hammer and his record label Bust-It Records. He worked on several albums for the company, including Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em album, as well as the bulk of Special Generation's 1990 début album, Take It to the Floor. Lead singer Michael Cooper embarked on a successful career as a solo artist, releasing his solo début album Love Is Such A Funny Game on Warner Bros. Records in 1987, and releasing the 1989 album Just What I Like and the 1992 album Get Closer on Warner Bros.' sister label Reprise Records.

As recently as 2013, their eleven Mercury Records albums, along with their Greatest Hits and Best Of Con Funk Shun albums, continue to be remastered and released digitally. In 2015, the More Than Love album was released. Three of the original band members, Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate and Karl Fuller, currently tour as Con Funk Shun. In March 2017, they celebrated their 45th anniversary as a band with four sold-out shows at Yoshi's in Oakland, California


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This self-titled 1976 release was Con Funk Shun's first album for Mercury/Polygram, and it came at a time when the northern California funk/soul outfit was still obscure -- not until 1977's Secrets did Con Funk Shun become well-known in the R&B world. Although mildly uneven and not in a class with subsequent gems like Secrets and Candy, Con-Funk-Shun isn't a bad album. In 1976, the band still had some growing and developing to do. But it did have a recognizable sound -- which is certainly a plus -- and one hears some potential on tracks that range from the snappy "Sure Feels Good to Me" and the Gamble & Huff-influenced "Nothing to Lose By Trying" to the glossy disco instrumental, "Foley Park." As a rule, Con Funk Shun wasn't a disco band -- it was a funk/soul band that branched out into urban contemporary in the 1980s. But "Foley Park" is the type of disco number that would have worked for the Crown Heights Affair or T-Connection. Overall, this LP's up-tempo funk and dance offerings are decent (if less than remarkable), and so are Northern soul-style ballads like "Never Be the Same" and "Another World." But here's the thing: Con Funk Shun's members had way too much talent to settle for merely decent. Felton Pilate and his colleagues needed to take it to the next level -- both creatively and commercially -- and they did exactly that the following year. With 1977's Secrets, Con Funk Shun enjoyed its big commercial breakthrough and made the transition from decent to excellent. You might say that this out of print LP was the calm before the storm. Although not among Con Funk Shun's essential releases and not recommended to casual listeners, this record is interesting if you're among the funksters' hardcore fans.

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 Con Funk Shun - Con Funk Shun   (flac  247mb)

01 Music Is The Way 2:37
02 Tell Me That You Like It 2:58
03 Never Be The Same 4:25
04 Owe It To Myself 3:37
05 Foley Park 3:55
06 Nothing To Lose By Trying 3:41
07 Forever Just Ain't Long Enough 3:18
08 Another World 4:25
09 Sure Feels Good To Me 6:13

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Con Funk Shun's second album for Phonogram/Mercury, Secrets catapulted the group to national acclaim. The Vallejo, CA, natives presented a balance of songs featuring the smash single "Ffun," which hit the top of the R&B charts and also made the pop Top 40. That single was followed by "ConFunkShunizeYa"; with a catchy hook and swinging horns, it peaked at number 31. With the success of these two singles, the septet's name became popular among R&B lovers. Even though there were just two singles that charted from this album, any one of the tracks from this diverse collection could have easily made it to the charts. The title track is a laid-back, midtempo composition; "Indian Summer Love" is an uptempo instrumental utilizing the synthesizer technology of its day. Also, there are a few mellow compositions on this album, the first being "Who Has the Time," a social indictment of the public at large featuring Felton Pilate's resonating tenor. "Tears in My Eyes" showcases Pilate and Michael Cooper in an emotionally charged lyric, and "I'll Set You Out O.K." highlights Cooper's tenor and Pilate's falsetto in unison, rounded out by Paul Harrell's jazzy saxophone.

 Con Funk Shun - Secrets   (flac  254mb)

01 DooWhaChaWannaDoo 3:24
02 Who Has The Time 4:42
03 Indian Summer Love (Interlude) 0:40
04 Tears In My Eyes 4:01
05 Ffun 4:08
06 Secrets 4:15
07 ConFunkShunizeYa 4:24
08 I'll Set You Out O.K. 4:10
09 Indian Summer Love (Instrumental) 4:52

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With some endearingly mellow grooves, California's Con Funk Shun continued to capitalize on their easy blend of soulful funk and disco across 1978's Loveshine. The band was enjoying their ascendancy to the spotlight on the back of their number one hit "Ffun," and used that momentum to power this new LP into the Top 40. Leaning more toward disco-inflected soul than the more classic jazzed funk of their earlier material, yet retaining the funky backbeat, Con Funk Shun swaggered through a slick set punctuated by the hits "So Easy" and "Shake and Dance With Me." Elsewhere, the catchy horn-heavy strains of "When the Feeling's Right" were proof that the band was not going to be any flash in the pan -- their quiet storm was here to stay. The contrasting style of the traditional ballad "I Think I Found the Answer," meanwhile, is a fine highlight of the band's overall range, although they slip with the middle of the road "Wanna Be There." With a plethora of instrumentation to complete the picture, including guest percussion from Sheila Escovedo, who would later emerge as the Prince protégée Sheila E, Loveshine is a gem of its era. And while purists may best love their early-'70s Soul Children Wattstax-era material, Loveshine kicked off their next incarnation in style, and gave the band the momentum that kept them firmly in the charts for nearly a decade.

Con Funk Shun - Loveshine (flac  253mb)

01 So Easy 4:30
02 Magic Woman 4:14
03 Shake And Dance With Me 3:49
04 Make It Last 5:02
05 Loveshine 4:45
06 When The Feeling's Right 5:35
07 I Think I Found The Answer 4:30
08 Wanna Be There 4:21
09 Can't Go Away 3:57

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Continuing their association with veteran producer Skip Scarborough and riding high on the success of their prior albums, Con Funk Shun maintain that stride on this album with the funk-dance track "Got to Be Enough." With an energized introduction incorporating their trademark horns, Michael Cooper storms through the verses, while Felton Pilate accentuates the chorus with his high-flying falsetto. Penned by Cooper and Pilate, the single peaked on the Billboard R&B charts at number eight after an 18-week run. The credible yet less popular dance track "Happy Face" slipped into the Billboard R&B Top 100 Singles chart at number 87. On a more serene note, they followed that single up with "By Your Side," a dulcet, easy-flowing composition led by Pilate's consoling vocals, peaking at number 27 on the Billboard R&B charts. "All Up to You," a momentum-building song, and "Honey Wild" did not grace the charts, although they are two splendid ballads. Both songs are complemented by Pilate's vocal creativity. This album exceeded sales of 500,000.

Con Funk Shun - Spirit Of Love (flac  250mb)

01 Got To Be Enough 5:42
02 By Your Side 4:06
03 Curtain Call 3:58
04 Early Morning Sunshine 3:08
05 Spirit Of Love 4:20
06 Happy Face 3:51
07 All Up To You 5:31
08 Juicy 2:53
09 Honey Wild 4:11
10 Lovestruck 1980 3:58

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