The last 2 weeks have seen an almost unprecedented frenzy of buying
for me. Some of this stuff would go best on the ambient or 313 lists,
but I don't take an active part in either of these, and I've excluded
everything that would be of no interest to most idm'ers.
Here are some impressions:
The FAX Ambient Cookbook.
4CD set for the price of a double. I haven't bought any fax for a
while and only had about 3 tracks off this, so reckoned it to be a
bargain. Stuff from across the board of the fax roster, and all
quality stuff. Haven't listened to it enough to pick out the
masterpieces but if you want an introduction to Fax's ambient sounds,
or like me simply can't afford to keep up, check this out.
Alien FM double pack
cat no 4W-230
8 solid tracks of Detroit techno, but best of all are the electro
based tracks, such as "nightmare"
Robert Armani - Madman Stand
8 tracks of hard bangin stuff in typical Armani style. One niggle,
his drum machine seems to be stuck at 135bpm, (His last album ran the
gamut from 115 to 165 bpm) but if you like his stuff you won't be
disappointed.
Aux88 - Technology
Slammin Electro, pretty old now but wicked!
Interdimentional Transmissions - Ectomorph
Not sure about the titl/artiste here, but 4 superb new school detroit
electro tracks, plus a couple of locked grooves for the
trainspotters, if you can find them on the murky translucent vinyl.
On track plays inside out too.
Robert Hood's Minimal Nation
Double pack of finely produced minimalism. Not as strange as
Waveforms 2, and I'm not familiar with much of his work, but this is
impressive stuff from last year. All the tracks are cut separately
without run-ins between them
Infiniti - Game One/Think Quick
Released by Network/KMS in the UK on Blue Vinyl, this is a Red2-ish
dancefloor monster from a man like Juan Atkins with Orlando Voorn.
Mike Ink - Live Evil Part I
A stormin live set. Pretty bangin all the way, with a variety of
textures and tempos - I wish I'd been there!
Ken Ishii - Tangled Notes
Woah. 2 of the tracks on this are really wigged out. This is quite
old too I think.
Bomb The Bass - 1 to 1 Religion
Not sure about the vocal versions of this, but the dubs are good
funky chillout, and there's a plastikman remix for plastikheads. As
plastikman mixes go its perhaps fairly routine, but its quite
unmistakable.
Alec Empire - Limited Editions 1990-94
Picked this up half price, on the back of the superb Generation Star
Wars. Very impressive. One track reminds me strongly of Autechre's
"Lost", and must be older.
RAC - Hula Hoops
One of their oldies on Nucleus. 2 of these tracks were released on CD
on WARP, but the other 2 are just as good. Tough bouncy electro
influenced house/techno.
110 Below - Trip to the cHIP sHOP
Yes, another Trip Hop Compilation, and a goody too. Sticks to thte
relatively downtempo stuff unlike "This Ain't Trip Hop" without being
as completely laid back as some of the tracks on "Headz"
Electronic Dub
Finally picked this up, at sale price on CD. Hae only really checked
the first 3 tracks, but I'm suitably pleased.
Wink - Higher State of consciousness.
The 2 A side mixes are a bit too monotonous, but the hard funky acid
version (cant remember themix title) and the laid back LP version
make this a 12" worth having.
Winx - Don't Laugh.
Maybe a bit of a novely, but there's 2 extra tough acid trax on the
back, and a useful locked groove of the giggles too.
Synectics/Ono 3 tracker
The Rephlex ambient sampler that's already been mentioned, on purple
vinyl.
Portishead - Sour Times
On a 4 track CD5 including the instrumental Them from "To Kill a Dead
Man" their debut film. A useful addition to their Long Player
Radio Waves - Radio Waves
A rising High Promo LP - Walker and Khan in concept album shock.
Comes across as Air Liquide meets Electronic Dub. Supposedly some of
the sounds on this came from a broken radio.
Spring Heel Jack - Oceola / Double Edge
More excellent accessible junglistic stuff - IF you hafe their
earlier work you know what to expect
Cristian Vogel - Conscious Arrays
Perhaps not his strongest work, but good enough for me!
808 State - Ooops (Remix)
A bit old, features Bjork. This is very funky and a lot better than I
expected (don't know why)
Goldie presents Metalheads - Inner City Life / Jah
This was very cheap (50p), as was the above. I prefer the remixes,
but nontheless this is the sort of jungle I enjoy
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
The Album. From 1977. The original TEX/Metal on Metal is an all-time
classic. Kraftwerk really knew how to wring emotion from the
machines. The sound quality on this ancient piece of vinyl is very
impressive, though a lack of bass in the mix is a giveaway of the age
of the recording.
New Order - Everything's Gone Green
Oh, hardly IDM I know, but this is a _great_ track!. The 2 b-sides
are less impressive, but for a quid I had to grab this!
The Shamen - Pro>gen. Make it Mine (remix). Hyperreal
Some of these tracks can still cut it, given a few months of absence.
Let's hope the Shamen's new work is a good as this stuff was back in
91/whenever.
Saint Etienne - Who do you think you are.
The 2 unadulterated S.E. tracks on this CD are practically
unlistenable to me, but the 2 aphex mixes (of 2 different tracks) are
what I came here for. This first is almost pure aphex with a very
small twisted vocal sample, while the second is like an in-yer-face
version of Seefeel, with a looped vocal (which seems to be running
backwards) threatening to turn your head inside out.
Biosphere - Novelty Waves etc.
Spread over 2 CD singles, The shop had no vinyl, don't know if there
is one. The various remixes offer new angles on the track, and one of
these CDs contains a remix of each of the two "Baby" tracks from the
2 LPs (my mind's gone blank on the full track titles)
Inner City - Ahnonghay
The original was out in limited quantities ages ago, on a 10" I
think, which was variously described by reviewers as "brown","bronze"
and "dog-sick coloured". For me it's the first time I've herad it.
this is the deepest techno sound to come from the mixing desk of Mr
Saunderson for some time. The Carl Craig mix didn't impress me as
much as the original, but the Dave Clark mix is the real killer.
Utilising a modified version of the break from SL2's "On a ragga
tip", which interestingly was used earlier by an act called 3 Down on
Kevin's own KMS label. That track itself contained other elements of
SL2's earlier "DJ's take control". I digress.
Stone Roses - Fools Gold '95
The new mixes are not that impressive in fact - Tall Paul's is too
fast, and Ollie Dagois' just has no balls. But I never did have the
12" original, which is included here.
There are others -
Tanzmusik - Lovelight and Tan Tangue promos (one old one new)
Vulva - From the Cockpit
Jonny L - I'm Leavin
Qubism - em:t 2294
but I either haven't formed impressions or simply haven't listened to
these yet.
later,
J
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steady-J@firefox.co.uk