Gamingforce Music Exposure Club™

Celtic Cross - Hicksville

Release: November 1998
Label: LSD - Liquid Sound Design
Genre: Down Tempo / Ambient / Electronica / Celtic/New Age



I've loved this stuff since discovering it going on 4 years ago. Most of what I'd say about this album is already said below in the review. My favourite cuts are the slow melancholic sounds of Shwazz and Mundis Imaginalus.

Amazon Member Review (excerpt, source)
"Simon Posford, Youth, and Soul Davies have outdone themselves with this release. By taking electronica and mixing it (successfully) with acoustic instruments ranging from the violin, to the guitar, oud, flute and various percussion instruments they've created a kind of world-beat techno-acoustica. Much of the music has a definite celtic flavor such as the violin driven techno of Darshanon. Well Ireland meets Algeria anyway, but other musical influences are also in the mix. There's a bit of Jamaican dub, eastern singing, acoustic guitar, flute etc., all integrated with psychedelic electronica. It's eclectic all right."

Track List
01. Hicksville
02. Stargate Avalon
03. Jade Garden
04. Shwazz
05. Fifth Level
06. Khatmandu
07. Mundis Imaginalus
08. Louden
09. Darshannon

Enter Hicksville
(This album and other associated paraphernalia may also be found on my server {see signature}.)

Cheers.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada [EP]
(3/8/99, Kranky, Post Rock)



Tracks:
1. Moya
2. BBF3


Review (AMG)


Personal Thoughts:
"Do you think things are gonna to get better before they get worse?"
"No way. Things are gonna get worse, and they're gonna keep on getting worse."

These words are taken from an interview with fictional character Blaise Bailey Finnegan III, after which the track "BBF3" is named. He rants in a Rhode Island accent about telling off a judge when he was paying a speeding ticket, how he doesn't trust the American government, and recites a poem that is very similar to the lyrics of "Virus". And, in, through, and around all this, is brilliantly crafted music that resonates within the soul, stirring, pulsing, pounding, overwhelming.

This EP is one of GY!BE's most solid releases, coming a year after the monumental F# A# oo and a year before the epic Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!. They refine their stay-in-one-key idea to achieve impact in ways they failed to even on F# A# oo - the music is more consistent, the climaxes long and intense, and the rise/fall formula rounded out to one large arc. Slow Riot is an intriguing listen, if not just for Blaise Bailey Finnegan III, but for Godspeed's advancement from their previous work.


Are you ready for what's comin'?

Ciao.

Here's something obscure for you.

Chimera - Des Duivels Oorkussen

Year: 1979
Label: Stoof
Genre: Dutch folk (with a hint of prog)



I know almost nothing about this group. I picked the album up off of a binary newsgroup a few years ago. Looking around, it's long out of print.

The two things that really stand out on this record are the beautiful acoustic guitar melodies, as well as the vocal interplay between the lead male and female vocalists. It almost comes over as a celtic sound at some points, but the electric bass gives it an odd King Crimson-esque edge. The violin work on "Een Boerman" make it a standout track, as goes for the (brief) blues guitar intro to the final track.

Tracks:
1. Daphne
2. Ardig Vrouwke
3. Warris
4. Broghen Haring
5. Des Duivels Oorkussen
6. Een Boerman
7. St. Vitusdans
8. De Loteling

Krijg Het!

Cheers.

Dengue Fever: Escape From Dragon House
Download Linky



1. We Were Gonna
2. Sni Bong
3. Tip My Conoe
4. Tap Water
5. Sleepwalking Through The Mekong
6. One Thousand Tears Of A Tarautula
7. Escape From Dragon House
8. Made Of Steam
9. Lake Delores
10. Saran Wrap
11. Hummingbird

It's psychadelia mixed with traditional Cambodian music, with touches of Ethiopian jazz and Bollywood music, with mostly Khmer lyrics. The last track, Morgan Page Remix is from their Myspace site and is not on the album. To be honest, I have no idea where it's from. Highlights include We Were Gonna, Sleepwalking Through The Mekong (an acoustic song with guitar and flutes), One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula (about someone murdered by the Khmer Rouge), and Saran Wrap (What sounds like a Cambodian version of A Wolf At The Door).

Ciao.

The Germs - (MIA): The Complete Anthology

Year: released 1993, recorded late '70s
Label: Rhino
Genre: original L.A. hardcore punk rock



From AMG:
There are other collections with rarer material out there, notably the live Germicide and Media Blitz, but unless one is a rabid must-have-everything-Crash-breathed-on fanatic, (MIA) is everything one could ever want from the Germs in one perfect collection. Not simply a reissue of (GI) -- thus the joke of the title -- (MIA) pulls together everything from the very first recordings to the last efforts of the classic lineup, namely six songs done for the film Cruising. Only one was ever actually released on the soundtrack, "Lions Share," so hearing the others in studio form is welcome and long overdue, including the only Crash/Lorna Doom co-write, the brusque strutter "Now I Hear the Laughter." The debut single, the primitive blast "Forming," and its hilarious, chaotic live B-side, "Sexboy," bottles breaking while Crash practically attacks the audibly scared audience, understandably start the collection. Meanwhile, the alternate "Forming 2" (featuring DJ Bonebrake and recorded by Chris Ashford, as compared to the un-produced and proud of it original) wraps it up just as well. All three tracks from the Lexicon Devil EP appear, including the slightly slower original recording of the title song and the sly, self-referential "Circle One," as well as two selections from the What We Do Is Secret EP, with Bonebrake again turning up on a live rip through Chuck Berry's "Round and Round." To be fair, on that number Crash reaches new depths of sheer incoherence.

If you're interested in the band, check out the novel What We Do Is Secret by Thorn Kief Hillsbery. It's a good read.

Tracks:
1. Forming
2. Sex Boy [Live]
3. Lexicon Devil
4. Circle One
5. No God
6. What We Do Is Secret
7. Communist Eyes
8. Land of Treason
9. Richie Dagger's Crime
10. Strange Notes
11. American Leather
12. Lexicon Devil
13. Manimal
14. Our Way
15. We Must Bleed
16. Media Blitz
17. Other Newest One
18. Let's Pretend
19. Dragon Lady
20. Slave
21. Shut Down (Annihilation Man)
22. Caught in My Eye
23. Round and Round
24. My Tunnel
25. Throw It Away
26. Not All Right
27. Now I Hear the Laughter
28. Going Down
29. Lion's Share
30. Forming [2]

Join The Circle

The Residents - Meet The Residents

Year: 1974
Label: Cryptic Corp./East Side Digital
Genre: The Residents



From AMG:
The Residents are true avant-garde crazies. Their earliest albums (of which this is the first) have precedents in Captain Beefheart's experimental albums, Frank Zappa's conceptual numbers from Freak Out, the work of Steve Reich and the compositions of chance music tonemeister John Cage -- yet the Residents' work of this time really sounds like nothing else that exists. All of the music on this release consists of deconstructions of countless rock and non-rock styles, which are then grafted together to create chaotic, formless, seemingly haphazard numbers; the first six "songs" (including a fragment from the Nancy Sinatra hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'") are strung together to form a larger entity similar in concept to the following lengthier selections.

What a strange and utterly fascinating group. I'll be posting more of theirs in the future. Here's a link to some info on them. Also, if you like this, check out Primus' covers of their songs "Sinister Exaggerator" and "Hello Skinny". Not to be missed.

Tracks:
1. Boots
2. Numb Erone
3. Guylum Bardot
4. Breath and Length
5. Consuelo's Departure
6. Smelly Tongues
7. Rest Aria
8. Skratz
9. Spotted Pinto Bean
10. Infant Tango
11. Seasoned Greetings
12. N-Er-Gee (Crisis Blues)

Fingerprincing

Wire - The Peel Sessions

Year: released 1989, recorded '78/'79
Label: Dutch East India
Genre: post-punk



A review worth reading.

Tracks:
1. Practice Makes Perfect
2. I Am the Fly
3. Culture Vultures
4. 106 Beats That
5. Other Window
6. Mutual Friend
7. On Returning
8. Indirect Enquiries
9. Crazy About Love

Not Pink Flag, but it does the job

Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart - Bongo Fury

Year: 1975
Label: Discreet
Genre: Balls out jazz-rock fury, with interspersed beat poetry



A snippit from Amazon:
"Captain Beefheart-weirdness and straight-on rock and roll highlight this mostly live album original released in 1975. Best when showcasing his evolving guitar skills and Terry Bozzio's thundering drums, Bongo Fury contains some of Zappa's more enduring songs, such as "Advanced Romance and "Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy." The endless riff and blistering guitar solo of "Muffin Man" is one of the high points of Zappa's onstage career."

Nevermind Muffin Man's sickeningly good solo, the highlight of this album is Van Vliet's spoken word pieces, "Man With The Woman Head" and "Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top". The Captain was just coming out of his slump with the Tragic Band, and this record is the foreshadowing for his strong return, "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)". An all around must have album.

Tracks:
1. Debra Kadabra
2. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
3. Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top
4. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
5. 200 Years Old
6. Cucamonga
7. Advance Romance
8. Man With The Woman Head
9. Muffin Man

Goodnight Austin, Texas, wherever you are!

Cheers.

Café Tacuba - Unplugged
Label: WEA Latina
Year: 2005
Genre: Latin Rock



DOWNLOAD LINK

1. El Aparato
2. La Ingrata
3. El Metro
4. Esa Noche
5. Maria
6. El Ciclon
7. Bar Tacuba
8. El Baile Y El Salon
9. Las Flores
10. El Puñal Y El Corazon
11. Una Mañana
12. La Chica Banda

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I remember the first day I heard Café Tacuba. I was in 8th grade and I had this massive puppy-love crush on this girl in my math class. When you're all but a child who hits puberty you kind of start having all these random feelings that you never had before. Then one day I heard this song called "Maria" which can only be described as an aural dream and immediately decided that was going to be my approach for this girl. To give her a mixtape with this song as the opening track. Sadly enough, she turned me down and I moved on from my first heartbreak ever.

This is exactly what Café Tacuba's music is like. It's a beautiful amalgamation of so many genres with poems fit for the miracle of life. Tracks like "Las Flores" and "El Puñal Y El Corazon" are downright bittersweet poems with a festive soundtrack to boot. It's sweet, it's sour and it's everything in between. Their music and lyrics have this way of making your mind swirl with all these muddled thoughts of when your innocence was still intact and when it was broken. Perhaps the most coveted achievement that any band can ever achieve.

This album was recorded in 1996 right after their second release "RE" but was only released this last year. All the songs on this album are from their first 2 albums which are, in my opinion, the best work they ever did. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

"Abrazame y muérdeme... Llévate contigo mis heridas."

Ciao.

Wow, I told myself I wasn't going to come back to GFF. But I really do love this thread.

The Gossip - Standing in the way of Control
Year: 2006
Genre: Dance Punk (I guess)



Review: I adore the Gossip. Standing in the way of Control is perhaps their most accessible album, but that doesn't make it any less respectable then anything in their back catalog. The melodies are still as infectious as ever and Beth can wail with the best of them. The only thing I can say about this album is that it will make you want to dance. In my opinion the Gossip combine the best of the new Punk scene (think Le Tigre, Controller.Controller, etc) and add amazing blues/gospel style vocals.

Standout tracks: Fire with Fire, Standing in the Way of Control and Your Mangled Heart.

Download it here

Cheers.

Woven Hand - Consider the Birds ( 2004, Sounds Familyre, Folk-Rock )



Track Listing:

1. Sparrow Falls 4:45
2. Bleary Eyed Duty 4:29
3. To Make A Ring 4:33
4. Off the Cuff 3:31
5. Chest of Drawers 3:53
6. Oil on Panel 5:36
7. The Speaking Hands 4:00
8. Down in Yon Forest 3:08
9. Tin Finger 3:54
10. Into the Piano 3:38

Overview:

As one third of Denver, CO, progressive country-tinged outfit 16 Horsepower, David Eugene Edwards established himself as a songwriter with a knack for injecting his dense, cryptic, and dark moods into his music, and with his second outing under his solo, side project guise, Wovenhand, Edwards continues down a similar path. For the majority of Consider the Birds, Edwards truly embraces the "solo" tag by performing every instrument, but on select tracks, such as the tensional dirge that opens the record, "Sparrow," Eugene employs a tasteful yet powerful band as a counterweight to his more blatant experimentations. It is a testament to Edwards' vision that over the course of its 40 minutes, Consider the Birds never feels schizophrenic, since the album constantly flirts with an unfocused recklessness. Drones and tom-heavy percussion abound on songs such as "Oil on Panel," and Edwards often saddles them up with fractured samples, melodies that tease dissonances, and his strong yet quavering voice. The whole concoction then circles around itself like a rickety, wooden roller coaster filled with coincidental assemblages of complementing sounds. One can't help but wonder how overwrought Edwards must be when he's practicing his music, but Consider the Birds once again affirms, no matter how emotional and extended he might be, Edwards never seems to be toting an empty heart.

Folk Rock Baby

Ciao.

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Label: WARP/SKAM/MUSIC70
Year: 1998
Genre: Ambient

DOWNLOAD LINK



1. Wildlife Analysis
2. An Eagle in Your Mind
3. The Color of the Fire
4. Telephasic Workshop
5. Triangles and Rhombuses
6. Sixtyten
7. Turquoise Hexagon Sun
8. Kaini Industries
9. Bocuma
10. Roygbiv
11. Rue the Whirl
12. Aquarius
13. Olson
14. Pete Standing Alone
15. Smokes Quantity
16. Open the Light
17. One Very Important Thought
18. Happy Cycling

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet - this disc is an aural experience. Just give it a listen.

Full Review
Sometimes an album is so good and makes its case so flawlessly that it spawns a mini-genre of its own and becomes shorthand for a prescribed set of values. The Velvet Underground's third and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew are two older records that spring to mind, and I'd toss in Spiderland as well. It's not a long list, but somewhere on it belongs Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children.

Cheers.

Wax Tailor - Tales of the Forgotten Melodies
2004 :: Hip-hop :: Under Cover Music

Download here



1. Behind The Curtain "Opening"
2. Que Sera
3. Ungodly Fruit
4. Between Fellows
5. Hypnosis Theme
6. Damn That Music Made My Day
7. Where My Heart's At
8. Birth Of A Struggle
9. Am I Free
10. Ringing Score
11. I Don't Know
12. Our Dance
13. Stay Tuned
14. Walk The Line
15. A Woman's Voice
16. Don't You Remember
17. How I Feel
18. Behind The Disguise "Closing"

An electronic/hiphop-type album, designed to sound like the soundtrack of a movie. I got this by chance, when my father returned from France with it, and it's one of my favorite albums to listen to. Here's a more complete review of the album.

Ciao.

E.S. Posthumus - Unearthed
2001 :: Cinematic orchestral electronic blend :: Wigshop



http://67.55.42.110/albums/Unearthed.zip
1 Antissa
2 Tikal
3 Harappa
4 Ulaid
5 Ebla
6 Nara
7 Cuzco
8 Nineveh
9 Lepcis Magna
10 Menouthis
11 Estremoz
12 Pompeii
13 Isfahan

Eh, it's been a while since I listened to this, but someone asked for it in her journal, so here it is. Nara's my personal favorite.

Cheers.

Aesop Rock - Float
Label: Mush
Year: 2000
Genre: Hip-Hop



DOWNLOAD LINK

1. Float
2. Commencement At The Obedience Academy
3. Big Bang
4. Garbage
5. I'll Be OK (Feat. Slug)
6. Breakfast With Blockhead
7. Basic Cable
8. Fascination
9. Oxygen
10. Skip Town
11. 6B Panorama
12. Lunch With Blockhead
13. Spare A Match
14. Attention Span (Feat. Vastaire)
15. How To Be A Carpenter
16. Prosperity
17. No Splash
18. Drawbridge (Feat. Doseone)
19. Dinner With Blockhead
20. The Mayor And The Crook

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Aesop Rock is an interesting cat. He's a video game junkie, smokes pot all the time and in his spare time he sits down with a note pad and does what every student in a writing class is supposed to do. Writes. Not THINK, just WRITE. Pretty soon he strings lyrics together and sooner than you realize he's strung together poetic masterpieces that receive beat treatement.

With Float, Aesop Rock creates an intellectually stimulating but musically entertaining album. Keep in mind: Aesop is an abstract rapper, and at first listen his rhyming doesn't follow the flow of the beat. Prose is clearly the game here. He layers many of his lyrics with symbolism and metaphor making his music not only suitable for fans of hip hop, but poetry connoisseurs as well. It takes a couple of listens to uncover the true brilliance of the album like sucking on an extremely sour gobstopper and reaching the intensely sweet center.

"I float. When everyone around me is busy drowning, I float."

Ciao.

time to get some canadian music up in here~

controller.controller
genre: indie / new wave / alternative

controller.controller is a toronto based band. their sound is an energetic, rhythmic post-punk rock, taking a cue from late seventies/early eighties bands like p.i.l., the slits and joy division, but departing significantly from there. it's about tension and opposition, juxtaposing discordant and jagged rhythms with disarmingly pretty melody and counter-melody. they wed propulsive, angular rock structures with minimalist death-disco accents and grooves that seductively embrace sometimes sweet and sometimes barking vocals.

History
label: paper bag records
year: 2004



1. ... 0:40
2. History 4:26
3. Silent Seven 4:17
4. Sleep Over It 3:45
5. Bruised Broken Beaten 2:06
6. Disco Blackout 5:22
7. Watch 4:01

DOWNLOAD HERE

perhaps not the most lyrically driven songs in the world, but the tunes are pretty fantabulous and groove-worthy. my favourite track off this one is Disco Blackout, but the whole EP rocks and has a really great hyper feel without being at all bubblegum flavoured. give it a chance, I say.


X-Amounts
label: paper bag records
year: 2005



1. Tigers Not Daughters 3:16
2. PF 3:23
3. Poison Safe 4:43
4. Rooms 4:04
5. Future Turtles 1:36
6. Straight In The Head 4:31
7. City Of Daggers 4:08
8. Heavey As A Heart 2:27
9. BLK GLV 2:07
10. The Raw No 3:49
11. Magnetic Strip 4:24

DOWNLOAD HERE

their debut album, and quite a fantastic way to debut. again, lyrics aren't spectacular, but they neither detract from or overshadow any of the other elements to this sonic union. it's starts off with Tigers Not Daughters which is pretty much just an appetizer of what's to come, as it speeds up from there. the whole album is pretty sock rocking, so socks beware. enjoy~

Cheers.

Swollen Members - Monsters in the Closet
Label: Battleaxe Records
Year: 2002
Genre: Rap

DOWNLOAD LINK



1. Intro
2. Steppin' Thru
3. Breathe (feat. Nelly Furtado)
4. Fuel Injected (Remix) (feat. Saukrates)
5. Battle Axe Exclusive
6. Heavy Thinkers
7. English Breakfast
8. Red Dragon
9. Bring It Home
10. Zenith
11. Members Only
12. Act On It
13. Long Way Down
14. Temptation
15. The Capitol
16. Crunch
17. Northern Lights
18. Rockapella
19. Freak Fantastic
20. New Details

Underground Vancouver rap - that's how I would define Swollen Members. Their music tends to have a very dark sound. They're independant artists and have collaborated with well knowns such as Dilated Peoples and Ghostface Killah. This is their third studio album and it has a slightly more mainstream sound compared to their earlier stuff. I ripped it from my personal collection - expect the first two albums to be up in the near future.

Favorite Tracks: Red Dragon, Fuel Injected, Freak Fantastic, Steppin' Thru, Breathe

Links of Note:
Swollen Members Official Site
Swollen Members MySpace

Their hitting up Sacramento in late April - Enceph - you've gotta hit up their show!

Ciao.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

Sometimes an album is so good and makes its case so flawlessly that it spawns a mini-genre of its own and becomes shorthand for a prescribed set of values. The Velvet Underground's third and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew are two older records that spring to mind

I was doing the Miles already, so I thought, what the hell...

The Velvet Underground - Self Titled

Year: 1969
Label: Verve
Genre: acoustic proto-punk



From AMG:
Upon first release, The Velvet Underground's self-titled third album must have surprised their fans nearly as much as their first two albums shocked the few mainstream music fans who heard them. After testing the limits of how musically and thematically challenging rock could be on The Velvet Underground and Nico and White Light/White Heat, this 1969 release sounded spare, quiet, and contemplative, as if the previous albums documented some manic speed-fueled party and this was the subdued morning after. (The album's relative calm has often been attributed to the departure of the band's most committed avant-gardist, John Cale, in the fall of 1968; the arrival of new bassist Doug Yule; and the theft of the band's amplifiers shortly before they began recording.) But Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of the demimonde is as keen here as on any album he ever made, while displaying a warmth and compassion he sometimes denied his characters. "Candy Says," "Pale Blue Eyes," and "I'm Set Free" may be more muted in approach than what the band had done in the past, but "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light" made it clear the VU still loved rock & roll, and "The Murder Mystery" (which mixes and matches four separate poetic narratives) is as brave and uncompromising as anything on White Light/White Heat. This album sounds less like The Velvet Underground than any of their studio albums, but it's as personal, honest, and moving as anything Lou Reed ever committed to tape.

In my opinion, the best VU record. The sheer vulnerability Reed gets across in the opening track is amazing.

Tracks:
1. Candy Says
2. What Goes On
3. Some Kinda Love
4. Pale Blue Eyes
5. Jesus
6. Beginning to See the Light
7. I'm Set Free
8. That's the Story of My Life
9. Murder Mystery
10. After Hours

Get It

Miles Davis - The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions

Year: 1969-1970
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Genre: Jazz-Rock Brilliance



From AMG:
Columbia's continuing summation of the career of Miles Davis through lavish box-set reissues resumed in 1998 with The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, a four-disc set including all the music from the original 1970 double-album Bitches Brew plus over two additional hours of music from the six-month period during which the album was recorded. (Some of those tracks were previously released on compilations like Big Fun and Circle in the Round, but almost one-third of the material lay unissued until this release.) The music is simply fabulous -- the simultaneous birth and peak of jazz-rock/fusion, with a host of major players (John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jack DeJohnette) and many innovations. There is a bit more evidence of tape hiss than in Columbia's last American remastering of the album, but the revelations of depth and timbre more than make up for it. Though the unreleased selections are distinctly inferior to those released on Bitches Brew, "Yaphet," "Corrado," and "Trevere" are intriguing jam sessions that reveal much about the creative process between Davis and producer Teo Macero during recording. Unlike Columbia's previous sets in the series (one treating Miles' period of collaboration with Gil Evans and one featuring the music of his second classic quintet), the Bitches Brew sessions lend themselves well to a box set of this type -- presenting the music in chronological order does no harm to original LP configurations as it did on previous sets, and the music here is another glowing testament to Miles' importance to the development of jazz in 1969, as in 1949.


If you listen to one jazz recording ever, make it this one. The bass groove on the title track is unstoppable.


Disc 1
1. Pharaoh's Dance
2. Bitches Brew
3. Spanish Key
4. John McLaughlin

Get It

Disc 2
1. Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
2. Sanctuary
3. Great Expectations
4. Orange Lady
5. Yaphet
6. Corrado

Get It

Disc 3
1. Trevere
2. Big Green Serpent
3. Little Blue Frog [Alternate Take]
4. Little Blue Frog [Master]
5. Lonely Fire
6. Guinnevere

Get It

Disc 4
1. Feio
2. Double Image
3. Recollections
4. Take It or Leave It
5. Double Image

Get It

Cheers.

I wish I could provide legitimate reviews, but I have to go run to dinner. So sorry.

RJD2 - Dead Ringer
2002 :: Hip-hop :: Definitive Jux

Download here



1. The Horror
2. Salud
3. Smoke and Mirrors
4. Good Times Roll Pt. 2
5. Final Frontier
6. Ghostwriter
7. Cut Out to FL
8. F.H.H.
9. Shot in the Dark
10. Chicken-Bone Circuit
11. The Proxy
12. 2 More Dead
13. Take the Picture Off
14. Silver Fox
15. June
16. Work

AMG:
His debut LP for Definitive Jux, DJ/producer RJD2's Dead Ringer is a deeply creative and musically poignant hip-hop record for summer 2002. Creating a raging underground listenership from a series of 45s and white labels and being the only non-MC signed to Def Jux, RJD2's talent as a DJ and as producer, to match beats and lay cult/pop gems over dusty soul tracks, is paralleled only by people like DJ Shadow and Z-Trip. However, his ability to record and marry MCs to his primarily instrumental and sample-based style is evidenced in outstanding tracks with Copywrite and Blueprint as well as his legacy with the MHz crew; at the end of day that puts our man from Ohio ahead of his primarily one-dimensional peer group. This set will stand out as monumental for Definitive Jux, who with their first record outside of the New York MC box continues to stride toward really being definitive in their roster and catalog of independent hip-hop.



Shugo Tokumaru - Night Piece
2004 :: Pop :: Music Related

Download here



01. such a color
02. light chair
03. lantern on the water
04. sleet
05. the mop
06. switch
07. typewriter
08. paparazzi
09. funfair
10. a kite of night

You can find a Pitchfork review here.



Shugo Tokumaru - L.S.T
2005 :: Pop :: Music Related

Download here



01. Mist
02. Mushina
03. Mizukagami
04. Karte
05. Kiiro
06. Vista
07. Metrion
08. Yukinohaka
09. Amayadori
10. 5A.M

A review of L.S.T. can be found here. Personally I like it more than Night Piece.



Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
1971 :: Pop :: Polydor

Download here



1. Melody
2. Ballade de Melody Nelson
3. Valse de Melody
4. Ah! Melody
5. Hotel Particulier
6. En Melody
7. Cargo Culte

AMG:
You don't need to speak a word of French to understand Histoire de Melody Nelson -- one needs only to look at the front cover (with its nearly pornographic portrait of a half-naked nymphet clutching a rag doll) or hear the lechery virtually dripping from Serge Gainsbourg's sleazily seductive voice to realize that this is the record your mother always warned you about, a masterpiece of perversion and corruption. A concept record exploring the story of -- and Gainsbourg's lust for -- the titular teen heroine, Histoire de Melody Nelson is arguably his most coherent and perfectly realized studio album, with the lush arrangements which characterize the majority of his work often mixed here with funky rhythm lines which underscore the musky allure of the music. Perhaps best described as a dirty old bastard's attempt to make his own R&B love-man's record along the lines of a Let's Get It On (itself still two years away from release), it's by turns fascinating and repellent, hilarious and grim, but never dull -- which, in Gainsbourg's world, would be the ultimate (and quite possibly the only) sin.

Ciao.

Merzbow - Paradise Pachinko
Year: 1999
Label: Tochnit Aleph
Catalogue #: TA012
Genre: Noise



1. Untitled Raw-Material 1 (28:54)
2. Untitled Raw-Material 2 (23:47)

2 more long tracks from Masami Akita. This is wonderful stuff. A very noisy wall of noise, as always -- yet much more focused on lower-end grunt instead of ear-piercing electronics. Due to that fact, this is probably one of his more soothing releases. Released in a limited edition CDr of 70 copies and long out of print. Downloads are from the label that released the CDr.

Download track 1
Download track 2

Cheers.

Afro Baby - The Evolution Of The Afro-Sound in Nigeria 1970-79



Track Listing:

1. Sahara All Stars - Alikali Adajaro 8:58
2. Bola Johnson - Lagos Sisi 3:22
3. The Mebusas - Son of Mr. Bull Dog 5:22
4. Don Isaac Ezekiel Combinat - Ire 3:21
5. Tunji Oyelana & The benders - Ipasan 5:20
6. Fred Fisher - Asa-sa 8:00
7. Orlando Julius & his Afro Sounders - Mura Size 7:00
8. Thorny Shorby Nyenwi - No Wrong Show 5:43
9. Dr.Victor Olaiya's International All Starz - Omeleble 5:53
10. Stephen Osita Amaechi - Afro Rhythm Skies 3:08
11. The Martin Brothers Dance Band - Ochonma 2:55


Overview:

Nigeria in the 1970’s had one the biggest recording industries on the continent as well as one of the most diverse. The fusion of African rhythms and culture with jazz, funk, soul, and rock was an Africa-wide phenomenon but nowhere was it more prolific and active than the cities and dance floors of Nigeria.

These rarities highlight how the Afro sound influenced all areas of the music scene and how it progressed throughout a very creative and energetic decade. From funky afro-jazz, soul and afro-highlife to big, dance floor afro-beat - Nigeria’s sounds were as diverse as they were uplifting.

All of the tracks featured within this album are very rare; none have ever been released outside of Nigeria – and many of them were small underground releases appearing only on long delated albums or 45’s.

Afro Funk baby

Ciao.

denali
indie rock / ambient / pop

The Instinct
Label: Jade Tree
Year: 2003



1. Hold Your Breath 2:57
2. Surface 4:47
3. Run Through 4:37
4. The Instinct 3:55
5. Do Something 5:39
6. Real Heat 3:50
7. Nullaby 5:35
8. Normal Days 3:27
9. Welcome 3:59

DOWNLOAD HERE

songs in the actual download file are out of order. the order in this post is the correct one, if you care to switch it around. sorry about that.

this is their sophomore album following their self-titled debut, which was more trip-hoppy rock than this album's more mature pop music. Maura Davis fronts the band with an amazing voice, and the band certainly knows how to build around it. Maura is more about jazz inflections than what you would expect to hear from regular Jade Record's bands. some tracks are your typical indie rock fronted by a woman stuff, but others depart from that immensely. on "run through", the guitars almost entirely fade away and you're left with Maura to showcase her talent and what she's really capable of, and "surface" is like a rock 'n' roll spin on trip hop.

really great album in my opinion. I have it on regular rotation in my playlist~


Bella Lea
indie rock / ambient / pop

Limited Release Demo
Year: 2005

[no album art that I know of/can find]

1. When I See You 4:48
2. Save It 3:24
3. The Mess 3:20

DOWNLOAD HERE

Denali has since split up and Maura has formed another one called "Bella Lea" which has pretty much the same sound. they've had to change their name though due to copyright reasons and are now known as "Ambulette", though they have put out a demo under the former.

Cheers.

<3 Denali, ava...

Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
Label: Bar None Records
Year: 2005
Genre: Indie/Rock/Pop



DOWNLOAD LINK

1. Neverevereverdid
2. It'5
3. Tiny Paintings
4. Wishbone
5. Maybe You Can Owe Me
6. Do The Whirlwind
7. In Case We Die (Parts 1-4)
8. The Cemetary
9. Frenchy, I'm Faking
10. Need To Shout
11. Rendezvous Potrero Hill
12. What's in Store?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A rarity in my life. I first heard of Architecture in Helsinki here on GFF when it was uploaded to the Music Exposure Club. If you like colorful music, there's no reason you shouldn't be listening to Architecture in Helsinki. With a roster of about eight members, they make cakewalk of fusing of indie, rock, electronic and all of the instrumentation together like a rich textured aural tapestry. Think a quirkily orchestrated Arcade Fire and you've got the right idea.

These cats are following their muse wherever it takes them and are clearly enjoying every minute of it. I enjoyed practically every minute as well, and hoepfully you guys will too. I can tell you all how much of an epiphany Architecture In Helsinki is, but I think it's best to let them do their own talking. They obviously have slipped into that musical role damn well and soon enough they will have you singing "IT'5!!!"

"'Cause I've been saving up for something we need as long as you're open to the possibility, yeah."

P.S.: I seriously want to know who uploaded this prior to the crash, for you will be in my eternal graces.

Ciao.

yndi halda - enjoy eternal bliss [EP]
(11/18/2005, Self-Released, Post Rock/Indie)



1. dash and blast
2. we flood empty lakes
3. illuminate my heart, my darling!


The self-released copies of the EP were each individually packaged by the band members themselves, resulting in a unique packaging for each recipient. The picture representing the album up top is one demonstration.


I can sum this album up in just a few words: Jaw-dropping beauty. With this album, they took the sounds of Post Rock giants such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, and Mogwai, threw them in a blender, and scooped out all the bits they didn't like, then baked three delicious cakes, each with a different flavor and seperate layers. While "dash and blast" starts slow and builds over time, to a rousing climax of 'la lala la-la-lala', "we flood empty lakes" cuts right to the chase, and inverts the traditional Post Rock scheme, while "illuminate my heart, my darling!" is the singularly most beautiful outcry of emotion I've heard from any band in years. The band, with this self-released demo version of their EP, proves their incredible songwriting maturity and cohesion as a band. Violins ebb and flow, drums intensify and crescendo, clarinets delicately flit in and out against dark string lines, guitars alternately soothe and overwhelm, and once in a while, the bass gets into a tight groove. Halfway through "dash and blast", I find myself rocking out; near the end of "we flood empty lakes", I find myself in a slow, despondent headbang; halfway through "illuminate my heart, my darling!", I find myself pinned to my seat, literally overpowered and unable to move. This album will start me with a smile on my face, and often find myself moved to tears by the end.

Reccomended for anybody who's ever liked music. Oh, and anyone who's ever felt a real emotion. This record overflows with the stuff.

illuminate your heart
The band's official website and Myspace

Cheers.

B-Tribe - Sensual Sensual

Release: February 1998
Label: Atlantic
Genre: Ambient / New Age / Latin Acoustic and Voice



Amazon Member Review (excerpt, source)
"An excellent bit of down tempo flameneco, drifting off into the neither neither land explored by such artists as Enigma or Kitaro. A blend of ethnicity and New Age music for a relaxing vibe that matches the afteglow. B Tribe has produced a theme based mix of music that evokes the strongest emotions in spite of the dream like qualities of the music. It is a disc that requires several listens and inevitably each sounds better and better. The balance between vocals, Spanish Flamenco guitar and studio work is mesmerizing, intoxicating and exhillirating all at once, a dreamy blend of exotica, much like the title, Sensual Sensual."

Track List
01. Overture (Concierto de Aranjuez)
02. Alegria
03. Sometimes
04. Hablame
05. Sensual Sensual
06. Zapateado
07. Tribute To J.S. Bach
08. La Guapa
09. Desesperada
10. Sa Trincha
11. Ahoy Ahoy
12. Ultima Cancion
13. La Unica Excusa...

Download Link

~~~~~~~~~~

David Sylvian - Gone to Earth

Release: 1986
Label: Virgin
Genre: Ambient / Acoustic / New Age



Album Notes (excerpt)
"Gone to Earth is Sylvian's masterpiece of understatement, a quiet, contemplative recording of variable moods, environmental contrasts, and introspective moments. In this best of all synergistic worlds, Sylvian's chums produce some of their most remarkable moments on record. Fripp's contributions, veering from the angelic ("Taking the Veil") to the hypnotic ("Gone to Earth") are as original as anything he's previously committed to tape. Bill Nelson outdoes himself on the provocative "The Healing Place," generating a repeating guitar fragment suggestive of eternal melancholia. Also on hand are Japan members Richard Barbieri, whose febrile atmospheres enhance the already beguiling surroundings, and percussionist Steve Jansen, whose deft touches provide the song's organic anchors when necessary. These human tone-tacticians raise Gone to Earth to an even higher level of artistry."

Track List
01. Taking the Veil
02. Laughter & Forgetting
03. Before the Bullfight
04. Gone to Earth
05. Wave
06. River Man
07. Silver Moon
08. The Healing Place
09. Answered Prayers
10. Where the Railroad Meets the Sea
11. The Wooden Cross
12. Home
13. Upon This Earth

Download Link


(These albums and other associated paraphernalia may also be found on my server {see signature}.)

Ciao.

Nujabes Feat Pase Rock & Substantial - Blessing It-Remix
Label: Hyde Out Recordings
Year: 2005
Genre: Hip Hop

DOWNLOAD LINK

I can't find the album art.

Side.A
1.Blessing It-remix (street)
2.Blessing It-remix (Instrumental)
3.Blessing It-remix (clean)

produced by Nujabes

Side.B
1.Highs To Lows-remix (street)
2.Highs To Lows-remix (Instrumental)
3.Blessing It- (accapella)

Remixed by Uyama Hiroto
co-produce&mixed by Nujabes

Nujabes (aka Jun Seba) is an independant, underground, Japanese Hip Hop producer. He owns the "tribe" record shop in Shibuya, Tokyo and also runs his own independent record label, Hyde Out Productions. This release was ripped from a vinyl by some person at Oink's Pink Palace. It's short, but sweet. Those familiar with Nujabes' full length albums will immediately recognize his production work for he succesfully blends piano melodies with more traditional hip hop sounds. He was even nice enough to give us the instrumentals! Basically, if you're a Nujabes fan already, download this because it's good. If you like hip hop and you have no idea who Nujabes is, download it so that you can hear the work of one of my favorite hip hop producers.

Links of Note:
HydeOut.net
MySpace

Cheers.

Bad Brains - Rare " Live at Earl's Birthday " gig from 1979.

Note: Lo-fi like a mutherfucker.

Track Listing:

1. I 1:50
2. Don't Need It :38
3. At The Atlantis 1:52
4. Pay To Cum 2:00
5. Supertouch & Shiftit 3:27
6. The Regulator 1:29
7. Why Do you have to Go 3:14
8. Don't Bother Me 2:34
9. Banned in D.C 2:53
10. Big takeover 4:09
11. Stay Close to me 2:33 KT
12. Attitude 2:13
13. Your a Migraine 2:28
14. Another Damned Song 1:54
15. The Man Won't Annoy Ya 2:35
16. punk Hardcore :57

Overview:

Since this is a live gig that was recorded by a member of the audience from my understanding, it is a rare bootleg and quite a kickass one if you were wondering how lo-fi bad brains sounded.

Rare Bad Brains from 79

Bad Brains - Rock for Light ( Caroline, 1983, Punk )



Track Listing:

1. Big Takeover
2. Attitude
3. Right Brigade
4. Joshua's Song
5. I and I Survive
6. Banned in D.C.
7. Supertouch
8. Destroy Babylon
9. F.V.K ( Fearless Vampire Killers )
10. The Meek
11. I
12. Coptic Times
13. Sailin' On
14. Rock for Light
15. Rally Round Jah Throne
16. At the Movies
17. Riot Squad
18. How Low Can a Punk Get
19. We Will not
20. Jam

Overview:

After the tinny sound quality of the band's debut, the second Bad Brains album came as a real blast of sonic fresh air. Producer Ric Ocasek is largely responsible, but the increased tightness and focus are also a function of maturation. This band was a weird bundle of contradictions from day one: black, Rastafarian instrumental virtuosos playing hard-core punk, formerly the exclusive domain of white, aggressively atheist musical amateurs. That last contradiction would come to full musical flower on I Against I, but Rock for Light shows the band at the height of its punk energy. "P.M.A.," "Joshua's Song," and "Coptic Times" are typical examples of Bad Brains' unique blend of punk velocity and Rasta ideology. When they suddenly swing into mellow reggae (on "I and I Survive," "The Meek," "Rally 'Round Jah Throne," and the dubwise instrumental "Jam") the effect is like some kind of pleasant musical whiplash.

Rastafarian punkers meet The Car's Ocasek. What's not to love?

Bad Brains - I against I (SST, 1986, Punk )



Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. I Against I
3. House of Suffering
4. Re-Ignition
5. Secret 77
6. Let Me Help
7. She's Calling You
8. Sacred Love
9. Hired Gun
10. Return to Heaven

Overview:

I Against I was for Bad Brains what London Calling was for the Clash -- the band's first fully mature work, one which successfully brought together all of its diverse influences while at the same time showcasing a singular vision. Also like London Calling, it was to be the band's masterpiece, in the original sense of that term -- a creative pinnacle which they would not reach again. The album opens with the title track, a blistering and musically exhilarating deploration of violence, and then moves directly into "House of Suffering," easily the most complex and yet viscerally compelling song the band ever produced. Singer H.R. digs deep into his bag of voices and pulls them all out, one by one: the frightening nasal falsetto that was his signature in the band's hardcore days, an almost bel canto baritone, and a declamatory speed-rap chatter that spews lyrics with the mechanical precision of a machine gun. He positively croons on the surprisingly melodic "Secret 77" and "Let Me Help." But his voice isn't even the best thing happening here. It's the incredibly tight, funky, and tonally rich interplay between guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson that gives this album its deeply satisfying texture. The stop/start rhythms of "Secret 77" and "Sacred Love," the gorgeous guitar hook on "She's Calling You," Dr. Know's completely counterintuitive ability to meld the raw directness of hardcore punk with an almost supernatural virtuosity without sacrificing the power of either approach -- this is music-making of an order not usually seen in rock & roll.

A little Trivia: Visual Kei gods X-Japan borrowed a few riffs form this album. Hide (rip) has stated he loved the Brains

Bad Brains - I and I Survived Dubbed ( 2002, Dub )



Track Listing:

1. Jah Love
2. Overdub
3. How Low a Punk Can Get
4. I And I Survive
5. Cowboy
6. Gene Machine
7. Ghetto
8. Rally
9. September
10. Ragga Dub
11. Gene Music Remix

Overview:

It probably won't come as a huge surprise to fans of this hardcore band that they've released their first full-length dub recording. After all, Bad Brains have proven in the past to be adept at reggae as well as punk. Their relatively straightforward approach to dub isn't particularly otherworldly or eccentric, but this album is a solid effort even if it doesn't break a lot of new ground. The band sounds quite comfortable with this format (including Darryl Jenifer's melodica playing). Altoist Peter Pittner, tenor saxophonist David CasT, and trumpeter Greg Glassman effectively enhance the sound on tracks such as "Jah Love" and "Ghetto"; Ray Chinna lends some flavor to the mix with his vox guitar on "Ghetto" and "September"; and the other guest musicians are also in good form. You can entertain yourself by picking out traces of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" in "Cowboys," the Indian influences on "Ragga Dub," the traces of hard guitar rock on the group's dub version of their punk classic "How Low Can a Punk Get," and the vocal samples on various tracks. Or you can just mellow out and enjoy the mostly relaxing groove.

A Bad brains record entirely in DUB

Ciao.

Luca Turilli - The Infinite Wonders of Creation
(2006 - Symphonic Power Metal)


Track List:
1. "Secrets of Forgotten Ages" (3:32)
2. "Mother Nature" (4:39)
3. "Angels of the Winter Dawn" (4:16)
4. "Altitudes" (4:37)
5. "The Miracle of Life" (4:24)
6. "Silver Moon" (5:37)
7. "Cosmic Revelation" (4:48)
8. "Pyramids and Stargates" (6:07)
9. "Mystic and Divine" (4:21)
10. "The Infinite Wonders of Creation" (8:39)

Really, I could try and describe this album in more depth, but all you really need to know about this album is that it's metal mixed with opera. IT'S METAL MIXED WITH OPERA. And it's awesome sounding as all heck.

Let the symphonic metal flow.

Cheers.