Here's some interesting things I found at Tower:
Unidisc is re-issuing a bunch of classic 12"s that are, by now, impossible
to find in a CD format. I don't know how long these re-issues have been
out, but I have just discovered them. Here's the gems I got:
Tantra: Hills of Kat Mandu (Patrick Cowley remix)
The Immortals: The Ultimate Warlord
If you see these, and want to hear some premier trance from 1979 (and they
are _so_ good it kinda makes you wonder just what has improved in 15 years),
they are well worth the price. I will never find these on vinyl, and am so
glad they are now preserved with no scratches on silver. I would have gotten
the Gino Soccio "Dancer" and the Giorgio Moroder "The Chase", but I
already do have them on vinyl. I may get the silver and get rid of the
vinyl as I can budget them. I didn't see Arpeggio's "Saturday Night" yet,
so I am hanging on to that one...
For those who don't know these tracks, they are richly layered trance
(128bpm or so) from 1979, and I don't think the 808 was around yet. Other
than the dated real drum sounds, the rest is a pretty rich sound using
simple synths, loops, vocoders and such and *lots* of layering them to get
a very smooth rich tone to the music. This music was hardcore disco usually
found in the gay clubs and very prototypical to the "gay oriented dance
music" that followed. 4-on the-floor, sex-beats, catchy hooks, and the
wonderful minor chords and progressions that have been used many times
since. Patrick Cowly was a master at this style. Check out "Megatron Man"
for a good sample of his work. I think his work on the Tantra track is far
better though, IMHO.
For those with interest and no Tower nearby, Dave at Ear/Rational
(angst@xmission.com) (sorry about the plug, but he is good :)
might be able to get them, or I'll stroll over and pick 'em up if there is
some interest. They had a few of each of these. I don't know if it is
because these tracks had heavy play particularly in New Orleans, or what,
but, there's more than one of these in a whole section devoted to the
"Unidisc 12" Classics on CD" series.
More in the IDM vein:
Do the buyers at Tower listen in on this list? It just seems weird that
every time somebody starts a thread on something (admittedly, only if it is
available in silver), our Tower gets a couple of them in. Juno Reactor,
YMO Technodon, Orb, AFX, TEX, etc. We're yapping about Klaus Schulze, and
this week, what do you think I see at Tower? Why, "The Essential Klaus
Schulze: 1973-1993". I thought it would be a perfect introduction for the
interest stirred by the recent threads. Is this just a leeetle too much of
a co-winky-dink or what? So, I picked it up, and hopefully will pass along
a review. It is on Caroline, btw.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael King mike%delta1@rex.cs.tulane.edu
Delta Systems
New Orleans, LA 70002 Voice: 504.837.9835 Fax: 504.837.9838
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never under estimate the bandwidth of a station wagon loaded with mag tapes.
-Karl Kleinpaste, postmaster Ohio State University
----------------------------------------------------------------------------