Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Just because everyone should have a little Raster Norton in their lives.

Wire did a cover story on them a couple of years ago and included a cd along with the magazine. The music blew my mind and I think it still stands up well even though the glitch aesthetic has gone out of fashion.

from Archiv - 1

Byteone - Oacis

from the Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto album Insen

Moon

Friday, January 27, 2006

Dear lord its raining Techno. If you haven't noticed Tape and Oh my Gosh on the blogroll to the right please do. They have some awesome mp3s available for download. Both need to get some hosting for their downloads but they have so much to dig through its well worth it.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

I am going to leave off this week with a couple of tracks from the Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound/Wackies axis of dub.

Moritz Von Oswald & Mark Ernestus are German techno musicians that incorporated dub elements into their sound as Basic Channel. They then started a side project called Rhythm & Sound that created the most atmospheric riddims possible and found original reggae heros to toast over them. As time went on they decided to reissue their favorite originals from NY reggae label Wackies through the Basic Replay sublabel.

This stuff is so good & influential to techno today that it will continue to reappear throughout my posing, but here is a teaser.

Rhythm & Sound - King In My Empire (W/ Cornel Campbell) off of Rhythm & Sound w/ the Artists

Keith Hudson - California off of the Basic Replay reissue of Playing it Cool & Playing it Right

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Soul Jazz, what a label. The systematic reissuing of music from around the world may not always produce consistant gems but it certainly can expand your mind.

I picked this up after a decade long dalience with Brazilian music. For the most part I was drawn into Brazilian sounds by samba. The languid rhythms and sweet melodies snared me like a hook. Seeing capoeira performed on tv and on the street captivated me. A martial art set to music? Wow.

Thankfully Soul Jazz had me covered with an album of samba and capoeira music to draw me into this culture.

Mestre Suassuna E Direceu - A Morte Do Capoeira

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Exotica. The name conjures images of tiki gods and bamboo matting. Drinks with umbrellas in them sipped by suburban housewives completes the picture. Is exotica nothing more than a dead genre that has recently been raided for lounge music or is it something more?

Wikipedia defines it very narrowly as Pacific Islander influenced, but it seems that exotica can take many forms. Generally escapist in nature, it tries to create a similcrum of the idealized version of a form of music in order to transport the listener away. Is Boris any less exotic than Arthur Lyman? Perhaps this theorizing is more the realm of K-Punk's blog than mine. In any case enjoy this little slice of the Pacific.

Arthur Lyman - Bwana

Monday, January 23, 2006

I am taking a short break from my techno posting to fill you in on an album that has really started to grow on me. I picked this up on a whim a couple of weeks ago and was immediately blown away by the first song on the album "Sun Song". On further listening "Music for Mijwiz," the track I am posting today, also jumped out at me.

I have been listening to a lot of exotica as well as original music from other countries recently and this struck me as somehow between those two worlds. Througout the rest of the week I will be alternating between exotica and original world music as well as any hybrids that strike me inbetween.

Nick Castro & The Poison Tree - Music for Mijwiz

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Dave Clark, if you were in England in the 90s it was impossible to escape this guy. He produced a strain of straight ahead techno that was impossible to ignore and the ep this track came off of actually made the top 40. Crazy days and crazy nights. This style of techno actually reminds me a lot of the acid techno that I was very much involved with at Escape from Samsara. Although the site claims to be Trance, in the early days they were very much more on the hard acid side. If you have ever listened to the Liberator DJs or Stay up Forever you know what I am talking about.

In any case check out this banger.

Dave Clark - The Storm (Instrumental)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006


One week of techno is just not enough...

Over the weekend I just couldn't stop thinking of different tunes that shaped the techno I have been listening to recently. When I hear Villalobos and his droning beats that loop out into infinity, the influence that immidiatly comes to mind is this man on the left. Carl Craig is of the second wave of Detroit artists. Coming up after Derrick May and Juan Atkins, Craig produced a more emotional version of techno than anything up to that point. The two tracks up today showcase both the emotional content of his tunes and his ability to turn a groove out so good that you could listen to it all day. Throw, the first tune, is written under the guise Paperclip People. It is an endless barnstormer that could run for half an hour if given a chance. Desire, written under the alias 69, defined the genre of emo techno for me. It's most insistant element is a keening lead line sounds so desperate that it could make you cry if you had a robot heart.
Machine Soul at its best.

Carl Craig presents Paperclip People - Throw


69 - Desire

Friday, January 13, 2006

Finishing off the week, I am going to go with another artist with whom I know very little other than I like it. He is Spanish and to my mind sounds very like a stripped down Matthew Dear. As usual I was hipped to him by the inimitable Philip Sherburne. In his vital column for online magazine Pitchfork, he made Mr. Under to be the second coming of Carl Craig. I wouldn't go that far yet, but it is fun.

Alex Under - Las Bicicletas Son Para El Verano Remix

(Translation: The female gendered bicycles are for the summer)

Thursday, January 12, 2006


I just want to say that I know almost nothing about this guy other than I like his tunes. They are banging and tend to be rather drifty.

Still, when its good that is all that matters.

Domink Eulberg - Der Totenkopfschwaermer im Bienenstock

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

In thinking about yesterday's post and the difficulty that can sometimes arise with trying to classify things, I started to think about defining techno. Hmmm. A hard kick at around 120 bpm, is that the definition? Is it the sounds that are used? That led me to think about the history of techno which inevidably led me to its originator. That man on the left is Juan Atkins who, as legend has it, first used the word techno to define his own music. As I went back and listened to my favorite tunes of his I realized that they fell far outside the traditional bounds of techno. His rhythms are complex and in the second track he uses vocals extensively.

So much for boundries...

Model 500 - The Chase (Smooth Mix)

Model 500 - The Flow

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Moving forward through techno week I am encountering the difficulty of classification. Trentmoller, a recent infatuation of mine, comes from a deep house backround. His early releases were on the SF label Naked Music but still had sounds which did not quite fit their roster. As his music has progressed it has more of the hallmarks of minimal techno, but still retains quite a bit of funk from the house days.

Groovy, dark, and biting.

Trentemøller - Polar Shift

Monday, January 09, 2006

Elijah Wood knows dance music..
Lets do techno...

The Wighnomy Bros do tracks and remixes with special emphasis on sounds. In particular these guys know how to make reverb a force to be manipulated and placed for maximum effect. I get lost in these tracks sometimes, spun out by their space and openness. Yummy!

Robag Wruhme - Hugendubel


Slam feat. Tyrone Parker - This World (Wighnomy Bros Und Robag Wruhme Bukkelflips Remix)


Play Loud!

Friday, January 06, 2006

Growing up in Texas, Country music was everywhere. Although primarily associated with the ever present redneck, its popularity made it all pervasive. Although by temperment I preferred classic rock growing up, I could probably sing the full lyrics to any number of 70s country hits. The Devil Goes Down to Georgia, Coalminers Daughter, Swingin', all those songs bubbled into my subconcious due to repetition and surroundings.

As I became a teenager I took a concious stand against country, due to what I percieved as its inherent racism, sexism, ect. Punk rock, then Hardcore spoke to my feelings of alienation more perfectly than any music I had heard up till that point and its social message fit right in with my perception of the world around me. Although I would still go drinking with my kicker friends (mohawk proudly on full display) and sing the songs when plastered, I was contemptuous of the message and lifestyle (probably as much as my kicker friends were of my lifestyle choices).

Years have passed and mercifully prejudices have as well. I now see country as a parallel to soul and folk. Older country music in particular strikes a deep cord in me. The rawness and honesty is a refreshing blast in comparison to much music and I sometimes find myself "with a tear in my beer" after listening to Hank Williams sing of love's betrayal.

Hope you enjoy these tracks:

Carter Family - Can the Circle be Unbroken

Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart

Patsy Cline - She's got you

Tammy Wynette - Stand by your man


Thursday, January 05, 2006

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Terry Brown: Slow Playing Tape Deck

Noisemakers Unite!

This is a video that will play on your browser via Google Video.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

This is the film that brought me and my wife together. After living in Europe for several years in the 1990s I found myself down on my luck and back in the states. After a series of misadventures I landed in a warehouse space that I shared with an old high school friend. In the process of being converted to a liveable home, it was filled with roaches and power tools but had 20 foot ceilings and called out for conversion. Halfway through the project he picked up and moved to Houston, leaving me alone but still paying half the rent. Unknown to me, he was contacted by my future wife and sublet his half of the rent under the condition that she would move in several months later. Much to my surprise she showed up and demanded my removal! I declined and we compromised that I would stay until she returned from a trip to Europe that she planned. Needless to say, she was beautiful. However, her determination to get rid of me initially cooled any ardor I might have felt towards her. Several days into her stay I discovered her movie stash and was overwhelmed. Blade Runner! My favorite movie of all time! Not to mention the complete Star Wars trilogy, Dune, Casablanca... a treasure trove of films!

I read her personality by her taste and decided that this girl was something special. Seven months later we were married and I haven't looked back since. Blade Runner brought us together and nothing will tear us apart.

Vangelis - Blade Runner Blues

Vangelis - Tears in the Rain

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Monday, January 02, 2006

Any JFK conspiricy fiends want to weigh in on this footage?
I have been wanting to do a post like this for a while. I recently rediscovered the first few Black Sabbath albums and have been playing them mercilessly. I generally concentrate on the heavier stuff as is my wont, but I am endlessly facinated by the softer side of Sabbath.

These few tracks demonstate a nice duality to the Black Sabbath aesthetic. One moment they can be bombastic heavy bastards raging at War or their own weaknesses, and then turn on a dime to do a folky prog number like Planet Caravan.

In my previous incarnation as an ambient DJ I liked to slip one of these in on off moments and then surprise those that asked "Who is this?" with the answer Black Sabbath. It invariably led to a shocked face and hopefully a more open mind.

Planet Caravan

Solitude

Laguna Sunrise