Owner Of A Lonely Dub

Not rare but not well known. 

Nice spin on a well known name.

Here

Here

DeepWarmth - Night Sessions 2 (2016)

DeepWarmth (aka James Shain, aka Lilmanjs) is back with some remixes of tracks from other well known artists such as Milieu, aspect., substak and ocralab.

A talented and evolving artist who also runs the Cold Fiction Music label, one of the best netlabels on the Web, especially for electronic music fans who enjoy a varied array of sounds and styles on the more subdued tip.

'Name Your Price' offering but show some love if you can

HERE

The first Night Sessions, also on this label, can be found

HERE

LP Trilogy

As anyone who has followed electronica, especially the dance culture as it emerged from the underground during the 90s, knows, the idea of the "white label" was always a DJ's secret weapon, that artist or song that no one knew about, known only by the DJ.  That aesthetic permeates the culture of "underground" electronic music.  It's that dramatic tension of remaining underground yet striving for that following.

This label carries this torch and gives it a name as every release is from an Unknown Artist.  In truth, the artists seem to be fairly well known but they are given anonymity with the release to add to the mystique.  The label's discography is starting to name names.

I picked up on their 12" releases starting with 001 but it wasn't until I got wind of a full album release that I dropped some cash on LP001. Glad I did as it turns out it is an artist who I've followed for years.  If you give it a listen, it shouldn't be too hard to pick out who it is.  

The third installment dropped without much fanfare as I believe the jig is up and peaked as a capitalist venture here.

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P.S.

No. 105.

Trim Silence - Souleyman (Digital Single, 2016)

Good day for me as another one of my favorite discoveries, Trim Silence, has released a new single.

I know that flute sample. Thought it was from here but not quite sure. Gonna bug me 'til I remember

Love this guy's sound. 

HERE

Med Gen - The Inevitable Absorption (2016)

Sense/Net, one of the standout labels on my radar that sends a thrill when a new release is issued, is back with a release by Med Gen whose work is known to me in passing from the Minus Silence label, another one of my recent faves in the drone/silence/ambient/isolationist camp.

As always from the label it's a 'Name Your Price' offering but show some love if you can and keep the music alive.

Not meant to be listened to in passing it fits in the background or, better, with headphones on. In a dark room. When no one is home.

HERE

Anchorsong - 'Oriental Suite (Red Bull Studios Tokyo Session)'

One guy, one machine, sunk its teeth into me this morning.

Incredible, just had to share.

The Studio Stereo - Full Discography (27 Albums)

As if there isn't enough music to occupy, distract and satisfy our minds, The Studio Stereo out of Berlin has their entire BC catalogue available for €0.50 or more. That's 90% off.

Crazy not to drop what is a little more than $.50 for 27 releases of experimental electronic dub oriented music that is fresh, interesting and will have you coming back for repeat listens before moving on rapidly as we tend to do in our squirrel based culture.

Get it

HERE

(Click on an album and you'll see the Buy Now option on the Full Digital Discography)

Get Your Groove Back

I am familiar with many of the artists featured in these comps such as this group but far too often it is on a very shallow, superficial level. 

Go deep into the grooves and evolve.

Funk on, brothers and sisters, funk on.

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DRONARIVM - Into The White (New Year's 2016 Free Compilation)

Not sure what it is about 'drone' and especially music of a similar notion that is coming out of the Russian/Ukraine region in particular that so intrigues me. I think it has a lot to do with what we are fed in the news that attempts to sway and distort our views in a certain direction. Believe they call that propaganda.

Then there is this incredible music being made and I wonder to myself who these artists are and am curious about what they do and how they live. This music sets a certain mood, certainly, but it also tells me that there is life teeming within the bandwidth and this is an expression of those lives. The information to which we are often limited, especially in mainstream outlets, is in far too many ways disconnected from the lives that real people experience. Music has the ability to provide the connection that mere 'information' lacks.

Drone and similar sloooow music forces me to slow down which is why I struggle so often to listen to it as life forces us in constant motion. But when I do it is the most rewarding music as of late that has captivated my interest.

21 tracks to set the mood

HERE

Bride of the Holy*Ghost (Holywarbles/Ghostcapital Mix, Summer 2011 *No. 2)

Welcome to Ghostcapital. The blog is an effort to share the love of rare, under-appreciated and oddball music of many kinds mostly ripped from vinyl.

As this mix attests, oddball it is featuring some familiar artists but unfamiliar songs with a hodgepodge of other stuff from all over the world mixed in that just flows together perfectly.

In other words, you need this in your life.

Well worth investigating the rest of the site if you wish to discover music that is guaranteed never to have been heard by your ears. 

Just when it seems that the well is drying up you realize that we sometimes in shallow waters. So much beautiful and brilliant music to discover...

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Pop Goes The Ambient

A primer for those who may not be familiar with this series.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Mist(er)

One of the more, if not the most, prolific of new 'dub techno' artists. There is a slew of other artists within his orbit, many of whom are featured on the releases shown below, who add some depth and some variety to what is, to those not baptized into the sound, music for the head. 

While there is nothing radical, new or mind altering about his stuff, there is a steadiness and a sameness that is comforting. I could listen to this music, mostly in the background at a volume just loud enough to add some atmosphere to the otherwise silent humming of life, all day long. 

Both of these were issued on labels now gone or in hiatus and provide good insights into his sound, the sound of dub techno circa 2009 or so and an introduction to the rabbit hole of other artists crafting similar sounds.

If you love the sound, check out his full discography and add some bliss to your brain.

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Variant - Falling Stars

Variant, for those who don't know, is the alter ego of Steven Hitchell (aka Echospace, aka Intrusion) with his more "ambient" side. The project has evolved and has moved beyond mere 'ambient' into more ghostly atmospherics extracted from the machines.

This was quietly released originally as a three track digital release and it contained the 52 minute "Falling Stars" that soon disappeared once released on CD and was replaced with a few new tracks. Due to fan interest, the long deleted track "Falling Stars" track was re-issued as a stand alone CD in 2011.

Originally slated to contain remastered versions of two tracks from the original digital release, the final release version has only the original track remastered but with an additional 10 minutes added on.

The biggest difference, and the reason this is posted here, is to highlight the difference in the remastering of the original. Sometimes 'remasters' are just a way to milk cash from an already exhausted release but in this case, the remastering is audibly mind blowing.

The top is the master; the bottom is the original. For those who know how to read these the audible is strikingly visual as well. Pick up a copy from the BC page or track down a used copy of the sold out CD. Once you've heard the remaster there is no going back. Worth every penny.

There are five variations of The Setting Sun/Fallings Stars release that exist:

1) Original digital version 

2) CD release ("Falling Stars" replaced with 4 new tracks)

3) Second digital version currently on boomkat (originally was the same track listing as the original digital release with the notable exception of the "Falling Stars" track cut down to 44 minutes but now matches the CD version tracklisting)

4) Falling Stars promo (limited pressing, 25 copies in existence, not officially released)

5) Falling Stars (official released version; one track, 62 minutes in length, remastered)

Pretty cool that an artist listens at the level of re-releasing something due to fan interest.

As has been my mantra for some time now: support the artists and support the independent labels.

Eponymous

Early 80s hair metal when it still had some bite before veering off into posing, primping and preening and got ridiculous. As happened often in the 80s, artists left other bands and combined to form other bands as can be seen from the chart below. Some other bands were within its orbit as well.

I had an original  cassette of this album long since lost that had the extra blues track as the last song which disappeared from future releases and finally showed up again years later on the CD.

I had a mix tape, also long since gone, with this track on it that had been copied from the cassette onto another cassette with its Basinski-like degradation of audio in the process that made it sound like it was recorded inside of a pillow case.

Putting this on brought back the memories of having this jamming in my car with way too much treble and made me smile for a moment. I am also realizing that many of the stories here all relate back to the physical artifact used to transport the sound. Wonder how McLuhan's prophetic words about our media (in the physical sense) will play out in our stories 20 years from now.

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Serenity Dub

Have the first one, did not realize there were three more. Actually there is a fifth but it's vinyl only as far as I can tell so if anyone ever comes across a rip you know what to do!

From one of countless labels that popped in and out of existence during the late 90s when electronic music was splintering into millions of directions and genres. For those who knock digital (and, for that matter, file sharing) it is mainly because of digital (and file sharing) that many of these labels and artists are being given a second life as electronic music has reached popular critical mass and is now moving backwards to 'discovering' its roots.

Has enough time passed that we now have 'classic electronica'?

1.1 a.m.

2.1 p.m.

3.1

4.1

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Michael Kandel (aka Tranquility Bass) RIP

Michael Kandel, aka Tranquility Bass, had emailed me about the original posting of this on my blog back in 2013. Always cool to hear from an artist. He was actually ok with me giving this away as he said he never saw any royalties from it from the label which issued it and he was appreciative of me not giving away the stuff on his Bandcamp page.

I emailed him today about one of the songs and received an email back from his sister announcing that he had passed away in May of 2015. My heart skipped a beat at the news. His music was often on repeat and always transported me back to the state of electronic music circa 1994 and made me realize the shortness of this thing we call life.

A great tribute to him can be found here. 

As a tribute from HTCIS the post has been re-upped. Be sure to check out the link below and discover some of the other items on his BC page that have been unearthed. He was truly ahead of his time.

Let The Freak Flag Fly (1997)

Makes me think of the Grateful Dead meets Sly Stone channeling the hippy vibe of an alternative consciousness filtered through electronic beats.

On the Astralwerks label, though not sure that helps any, unless you factor in Spacetime Continuum's Alien Dreamtime with Terrence McKenna.

A gloriously strange album.

Enjoy

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Beep!!! (1998)

Bonus which I didn't know existed until I discovered this through some virtual digging. Two tracks get the remix treatment, most notably one by Fatboy Slim and two featuring DJ Z-trip on the turntables.

Enjoy

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Broadcast Standard Series (2011)

And, while digging further, stumbled across this gem:

The back catalogue of all pre "Freak Flag" tracks released between 1991 and 1994 with a few bonuses included.

Digital files (any format up to, and including, FLAC) for $8?  Sent mine in this morning, looking forward to diving in.

Plus, he has even more releases that aren't in the discogs database.

It's like a drug.

Can't beat it.

Show some real support:

HERE

Letting Go

Sigh. The day finally came, I had to let it go. Part function, part cleansing, part therapy the vinyl is gone. Found a local guy who will take these and maybe discover new music or release them to the world through the local flea market(s) and will hopefully better himself just a little because of it. Call it good karma.

They were mostly common albums from younger days along with standard thrift store staples. 

Here is what that spot looks like now. Dug out some cases of mixtapes, some old floppy disks and my old Roadstar amp from my first car. 

Don't get me wrong, I thinned it out before letting it all go (notice the vintage 1980s Fisher cabinet). Kept the ones that are valuable, yes, but mostly these are the ones that are meaningful in some way. After all, why else would I keep 14 sealed copies of the Miami Vice Soundtrack?

Then there is this little section. What bounty lies within? There is this one and these and a host of other goodies. I always have moments of 'Oh, yea, forgot about that one' when I browse them.

Perhaps I'm not quite ready to completely let go.

Certified Dope

Always sounds good and always sounds real, a nice check for when we forget.

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Temiong Recordings - Year End Compilation

A label that has offered up some of standout albums over the past few years has, as have many others labels, released a Year End Compilation representing the sounds of the label. 

Though worth buying this one is offered up for free. As these are new tracks from artists such as Coppice Halifax, Orson Throb, Owen Ni and others there is no reason to miss it.

Track down the other releases as well if you aren't familiar with the label.

HERE

日本 - Home Normal Label

Home Normal, a tiny giant of a label who I discovered due to being the home of several of Brock Van Wey's releases under his various aliases, has offered up a sampler of its 2015 releases in honor of its move from Japan to the UK.

Not free but high cost to value ratio to introduce the listener to a new world of artists and evolving sounds. Definitely worth the support.

Features a bonus photo book by label curator Ian Hagwood.

HERE

P.S. 日本 (i.e. Nippon, aka Japan) literally translates as 'sun's origins' for those who want to know.

Burial Better Than Burial?

I hate comparisons when it comes to music but sometimes 'influence' is far too obvious to miss. However, with an open mind we come to realize that the foundation is not the last word. Foundations are meant to be built upon and it often pushes those who laid the foundation to innovate.

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For reference:

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