IDM Mailing Archive

Trainspotters, get your guns ready..... I get to play my favorite game: Delerium spotting! The last time I played with reasonable success was on "Semantic Spaces," released back in 1994. It was a fab album, chock full of syrupy, melancholy beat-driven electronics. The best part of the album though, was spotting all the "borrowed" sound, including The Orb, Enigma, and Pete Namlook. Now it's time for "Karma." Release date: April 22nd, 1997. Guest vocals include Sarah McLaughlin, Kristy Thirsk (whose heavenly seductive voice won me over on Delerium's big single, Flowers Become Screens) Jacqui Hunt, Camille Henderson, and.... hehehe, Lisa Gerrard! (okay, it's just samples, but at least they were officially approved by her label, 4AD). I'll have a full review once I've whipped through the disc a few times. If you want a hint though, picture Semantic Spaces, talvintablasized.... :) onnow: karma (nettwerk) Lame Thread Prevention in Effect: Aaron Michelson --------------------------------------------------------------------- aw-teck'r (autechre) "Everything you Know is Wrong" For reviews, interviews, art & trash http://www.on-it.net/~aaron/ aaron@defiant.on-it.net

From: aaron@defiant.on-it.net (Aaron Michelson)

quoted 2 lines Now it's time for "Karma." Release date: April 22nd, 1997. Guest vocals

> Now it's time for "Karma." Release date: April 22nd, 1997. Guest vocals > include Sarah McLaughlin, Kristy Thirsk (whose heavenly seductive voice

won

quoted 2 lines me over on Delerium's big single, Flowers Become Screens) Jacqui Hunt,

> me over on Delerium's big single, Flowers Become Screens) Jacqui Hunt, > Camille Henderson, and.... hehehe, Lisa Gerrard! (okay, it's just

samples,

quoted 1 line but at least they were officially approved by her label, 4AD).

> but at least they were officially approved by her label, 4AD).

Thank God something musically good comes out of Vancouver. I'm meaning Kristy Thirsk's voice, of course! I thought Semantic Spaces was generic and bland, and felt "smushed together." I hope this one's better. Totally unrelated, but is there an online guide to electronic shows in the London area? Jeff. On Now: Chill Out or Die IV -- Jeff Macht (jamacht@pobox.com) |"Dreams become reality when desire http://www.pobox.com/~jamacht/ | transforms them into concrete action", NeXT Mail, MIME accepted | Gus, from the film The Top of his Head.

Kristy Thirsk, whose vocals are featured on most recent Delerium music, is also the lead singer for the band Rose Chronicles, also on Nettwerk. -manny

From: Manny <manny@dhp.com>

quoted 1 line Kristy Thirsk, whose vocals are featured on most recent Delerium music,

> Kristy Thirsk, whose vocals are featured on most recent Delerium music,

is

quoted 1 line also the lead singer for the band Rose Chronicles, also on Nettwerk.

> also the lead singer for the band Rose Chronicles, also on Nettwerk.

They had dissolved soon after the last album was released (Fall 1996), as reports in the local weekly say. Kristy has done at least one solo show since then, so all is not lost. Jeff. -- Jeff Macht (jamacht@pobox.com) |"Dreams become reality when desire http://www.pobox.com/~jamacht/ | transforms them into concrete action", NeXT Mail, MIME accepted | Gus, from the film The Top of his Head.

On 3 Mar 1997 19:19 -0500 (-1000), Andy wrote to me:

quoted 3 lines what about those "ethnic" samples in Semantic Spaces, were those taken

> what about those "ethnic" samples in Semantic Spaces, were those taken > from the Deep Forrest album(they are identical sounds) are are they just > from the same source?

I doubt it...... I've gone through the album about two or three times now..... on the most part, I suspect a lot of their breakbeats were sampled from early hip hop records..... Soul 2 Soul comes to mind for instance on this one track called Euphoria, with a vocalist who sounds remarkably like Madonna :) Delerium also make use of tonnes of middle eastern and medieval instruments (sampled, naturally) which at times are extremely effective. A lot of the time though it sounds kinda saturated.

quoted 2 lines andy who like ss but likes the one of the earlier ones, i think spheres 2

> andy who like ss but likes the one of the earlier ones, i think spheres 2 > its called, better :)

Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk contributions was an old compilation of early works on Dossier. I thought it was boring, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Spheres series. onnow: Delerium "Karma" (again!!) Lame Thread Prevention in Effect: Aaron Michelson --------------------------------------------------------------------- aw-teck'r (autechre) "Everything you Know is Wrong" For reviews, interviews, art & trash http://www.on-it.net/~aaron/ aaron@defiant.on-it.net

quoted 3 lines what about those "ethnic" samples in Semantic Spaces, were those taken

>> what about those "ethnic" samples in Semantic Spaces, were those taken >> from the Deep Forrest album(they are identical sounds) are are they just >> from the same source?

i've heard a lot of those samples on various commercial sample CDs. also deep forest just sampled from some smithsonian CDs (with permission) so it's entirely possible that delerium got the same ones. all those tuvan throat singer samples that were so popular a few years ago (think: Chill Out, Horizon 222) all came from one CD as well.

quoted 4 lines Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk

> Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk > contributions was an old compilation of early works on Dossier. I thought > it was boring, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Spheres > series.

Hmm, IMO it's the Spheres ones that are boring - bland synthy stuff without much personality. Some of the old stuff had guts, e.g. Syrophenikan. Ashok

On 04-Mar-97 Ashok Divakaran wrote:

quoted 7 lines Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk

>> Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk >> contributions was an old compilation of early works on Dossier. I thought >> it was boring, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Spheres >> series. > >Hmm, IMO it's the Spheres ones that are boring - bland synthy stuff without >much personality. Some of the old stuff had guts, e.g. Syrophenikan.

ok, time to set the record straight. delerium - an overview faces forms and illusions - very good late 80's "industrial/ambient". dark melodies, menacing slow drum machine rhythms, ofra haza samples (de rigeur for the time of course). morpheus - an unsuccessful mix of ff&i style with stuff that basically sounds like front line assembly outtakes. some of the tracks even have fla-growled vocals. avoid. (unless you see it for like $2 in which case it's worth it for the few good tracks.) syrophenikan - a SUPERB album of tribal rhythms and evil sounding synths. extremely clean and well produced. brilliant stereo effects. really really top notch. stone tower - peter gabriel's "passion" with more drum machines. very good. spiritual archives - from the desert to the dungeon. clanking chains, distorted noises, lots of gritty abbatoir ambience. the comparison to lustmord is right on. notable samples: recoil, zoviet france, legendary pink dots. spheres i - an EXCELLENT pastiche of old style 70's space music with a 90's twist. tangerine dream & vangelis meet 2001 samples and evil squirty 303s. fantastic. spheres ii - somewhat lackluster sequel. same ingredients, but it doesn't have the panache of the previous recipe. still worthwhile. notable samples: michael stearns (baraka), tangerine dream. semantic spaces - user friendly ultra commercial mixup of enigma, deep forest, orb, FSoL... extremely easy listening. some good bits, some bits are just SO derivative that you want to vomit. notable samples: everything mentioned above, as blatant as it gets. Jon Drukman jsd@gamespot.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Administrator SpotMedia Communications

At 13:07 -0500 04.03.97, Jon Drukman wrote:

quoted 3 lines delerium - an overview

> >delerium - an overview >

quoted 2 lines stone tower - peter gabriel's "passion" with more drum machines. very good.

>stone tower - peter gabriel's "passion" with more drum machines. very good. >

And harder edged. Dark and industrial. Some hard-edged mixing will induce a headache at moderate volumes.

quoted 2 lines spheres i

>spheres i >spheres ii

These two are fantastic. Dark and spooky. Lite beats here and there, but mostly stripped down to zones of drones and bleeps.

quoted 1 line semantic spaces -

>semantic spaces -

Can't help myself; I love this record, except for the couple of vocalized single-material trax. Some brilliant collage work happening, and the FLA-boys have out-Enigma-d Enigma. What the second Enigma record could have been. Pay attention to the rhythm and bassline programming; subtle and intelligent work. 3

actually, I wasn't talking about beats, rather, some of the voice samples are identical to those on the 1st Deep Forrest full lenght... (i think the track Sweet Lullaby or something like that)... SS is great, but at times a little too enigma-ish for me andy On 3 Mar 1997, Aaron Michelson wrote:

quoted 35 lines On 3 Mar 1997 19:19 -0500 (-1000), Andy wrote to me:

> On 3 Mar 1997 19:19 -0500 (-1000), Andy wrote to me: > > > what about those "ethnic" samples in Semantic Spaces, were those taken > > from the Deep Forrest album(they are identical sounds) are are they just > > from the same source? > > I doubt it...... > > I've gone through the album about two or three times now..... on the most > part, I suspect a lot of their breakbeats were sampled from early hip hop > records..... Soul 2 Soul comes to mind for instance on this one track > called Euphoria, with a vocalist who sounds remarkably like Madonna :) > Delerium also make use of tonnes of middle eastern and medieval instruments > (sampled, naturally) which at times are extremely effective. A lot of the > time though it sounds kinda saturated. > > > andy who like ss but likes the one of the earlier ones, i think spheres 2 > > its called, better :) > > Unfortunately, the only Delerium I've heard outside of their Nettwerk > contributions was an old compilation of early works on Dossier. I thought > it was boring, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Spheres > series. > > > > onnow: Delerium "Karma" (again!!) > > Lame Thread Prevention in Effect: Aaron Michelson > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > aw-teck'r (autechre) "Everything you Know is Wrong" > For reviews, interviews, art & trash > http://www.on-it.net/~aaron/ > aaron@defiant.on-it.net >