mixaZEN - A blog about Art, Design, Film, Music, Photography

soul designer - walking on a little cloud
(fcom, 2002)

Sweet
Harmonies is a light gentle track with gentle floating keys, fast yet
soothing. When a silly wibbly acidic synth is added to the blend,
you've got a bit of a killer. Percussion is programmed just nicely.
Sleep With A Fat Girl is a bit of a odd one for the album, a sinister
acid tinged track with a wobbling acid bass and percussion that pitches
up and down in all the right places. Finally there is Little Angel, my
fave from the LP, and a current fave to finish off something like a
tech house mix with. Electric drums open up the track with plenty of
tom toms and bleepy noises firing out around the place, then fades in
the happy little bassline before we hit into some gorgeous synth
chords. Has a perfect simple little melody that is light and uplifting.
Classic.

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juantrip - balmy under the stormy
(fcom, 1999)

Tracing
the musical roots of French Juantrip aren't that hard. His debut album
is overflowed with an obvious passion for classic acts like Pink Floyd,
The Beatles, David Bowie and other late 60's and early 70's
psychedelica. Being brought up in a hippie commune this passion of
course includes a very liberal attitude towards drug-taking.
The
album's kind of naive and rather blunt lyrics, similar to those of
Swedish national-hippie Di Leva, have never really been that
fascinating to me. It's just detached beyond relevance. The electronics
involved are, in a funny way, charmingly out-dated. Not retro in any
usual sense, but at the same time everything but contemporary. Or to
put it another way: You get more of early 90's Shamen and less of late
90's advanced post-electronic wizardry.

calm - moonage electric ensemble
(1999)

1969
born japanese producer Calm is today worldwidely known for his
productions remixes on Compost, Ubiquity, Yellow or DIY. This is his
new album which is all together deeper & more aggressive than the
former opus (Moonage Electric Ensemble). A truly stunning collection of
future sounds, allowing you imagination to lose itself. Spiritual
sounds enlighting his knowledge of percussions, alongside deep bass
lines & ambient loops. Deep accoustic Electronica. Highly
Recommended!

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Luke Vibert - Chicago, Detroit, Redruth
(Planet Mu, 2007)

Prolific
Cornish electronic producer Luke Vibert returns with 'Chicago Detroit
Redruth', the third album to be releasedunder his own name and his
first for Mike Paradinas' PlanetMu. Renowned for his eclectic mix of
electronic genres 'Chicago Detroit Redruth' is no exception, a
blistering mix of drum 'n' bass, breaks, trip hop and acid, the album
cements Vibert's place as one of the UK's most original producers
alongside Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.

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Efdemin - Efdemin
(Dial, 2007)

Now
Berlin-based Efdemin looks set to join der Klub, with his debut
full-length largely flitting around between these dusky colourings
while adding a few of his own. Berliner Phillip Sollmann apaprently
studied music (in Vienna - ooh!), cultivating an interest in more
static forms (e.g. La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Phil
Niblock), so he's no slouch. And like his label-mates, he may be a DJ,
but is decidedly not what he plays. Sollman's smart techno is not
especially weird on top but distinctly wired at heart, tapered down
basslines and smart beats playing host to smoke and shimmer, ripples
and stabs. Efdemin stays clear of Pantha's self-grooming sulk-zone,
remaining largely on the lightside, with sometimes an inscrutable
speech sample puzzle to pique. Freer-spirited, certainly, and less
generically cultivating 'mystique,' though without getting all
uber-gloomy and goth-veiled on you, mysterious ways are occasionally
moved in, a touch of creamy-dark dreamscape being whorled into the
whirl of its sub-genre worlds.

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Duplex - Late Night Driving
(Clone, 2006)

The
long awaited debut album of Duplex. Produced in the suburbs of
Rotterdam, Duplex are suppliers of deep inner city techno of the
highest quality. 11 Timeless tracks perfect for the dance floor or as a
late night soundtrack for driving through the city. People who heard
previous Duplex releases know their quality and their love for true
techno. Atmospheric tracks with several layers of sounds... deep
driving bass lines, beautiful synths and smooth but dirty drum
machines. Essential album!

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Various - Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word: Compiled By Andy Votel
(Delay, 2005)

Folk-Funk?
Electric Folk? Hippy-Rock? Acid Folk? Sunshine-Pop? Folk-Fusion?
Folksploitation? Once again music lovers struggle to bridge the deep
& wide gully where another hybrid genre wanders lonely amongst the
vinyl ghosts of yesteryears ethereal love songs. Let us introduce a
flock of unsung songbirds who flutter between rocks and hardened
pastures too commercial to be traditional - not successful enough to be
credible - from the wrong side of town - on the other side of the
globe. Here are some of the would-be folk legends that you didn’t read
about, they never played the festivals and you never heard their
records... until today.


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apparat organ quartet - apparat organ quartet
(skelt, 2002)

The
Apparat Organ Quartet is an Icelandic band founded in 1999 by Jóhann
Jóhannsson, a noted Icelandic composer and musician. The band, which
plays several different organs and uses other devices such as a
vocoder, has a sound reminiscent somewhat of German band Kraftwerk.
Apparat, though based in Reykjavík, has played throughout Europe and
won acclaim for their interesting sound.


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Asthmatic Athlete - Good Morning, Austria!
(2007)

This is my music. Enjoy!

Tracklist:
01 andy´s night out
02 cheeky tequila
03 let´s get pissed
04 athlete! athlete!
05 back home
06 cut & paste
07 day after

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In honour of the recent release of Björk’s sixth studio album Volta, you’d do well to get your ears around her Breezeblock mix as featured on UK station Radio 1 in 1998. It’s an hour’s worth of nice electronica and wonky sounds (she was enjoying her Aphex back then, put it that way), with a few unexpected surprises tucked in for good measure. Even Céline Dion makes an appearance! Sort of. Mary Anne Hobbs makes with the introduction, describing Björk as being “dressed like an archangel”. Fantastic, but did nobody tell her she was on the radio? Could’ve saved her some time getting ready - it’s not like the listeners would’ve noticed! But this is Björk we’re talking about here. And you can always count on her to do something a bit different. Hit the jump for the link and a tracklist that oozes good musical taste. Bless á meðan!

Björk: Radio 1 Breezeblock mix (1hr, 54MB) [rapidshare]

Tracklist

1. Nico - Le Petit Chevalier
2. Nico - My Only Child
3. Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)
4. Sähko - Track 1
5. Black Dog - Chesh
6. Tuhai Merz Sanam - I Will Always Love You
7. Mangal Singh Sud Amor - Unknown
8. Oval - Do While
9. Meredith Monk - Gotham Lullaby
10. Northern Circuits - Track 3
11. Aphex Twin - Afx 6/B
12. Oval - Shop In Store
13. Matmos - Three Guitar Lessons
14. Sähko - Track 7
15. Michael Jackson - We’re Almost There
16. Space Age Pop - Track 11
17. Aphex Twin - Logan Rock Witch
18. Arvo Part - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
19. Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause

Westwood on the rewind, baby! By which I mean, here’s another choice snippet from the big dawg’s early days. Not an awful lot of info on this one, but as usual Rich Color fills in the gaps:

“Tim Westwood broadcast this on his LWR hip hop show in early 1985. It’s a live scratch mix taking ‘Hip Hop Beat’ by UK group Rapologists as it’s main break. DJ Undercover gives shout outs at the start, as Westwood drops the fader on “…the whack mother fuckers who stole my records from the Wag”. Undercover adds nice warmth during the mix by flicking the mic on a few more times to add some more shouts, and Westwood can’t help but giggle at the end when ‘You’re Wondering Now’ gets scratched in. With it’s casual attitude and innovative sampling, this mix will make you smile”.

Good stuff. And if by some massive quirk of coincidence, you were one of those ‘whack mother fuckers’ who inched Undercover’s vinyl at the Wag that night back in the mid-eighties and are reading this now, FOR SHAME! No DJ deserves that kind of nonsense…

DJ Undercover: One Time Mix (11mins, 10MB) [rapidshare]

It’s The BIG DAWG! Yeah yeah yeah, blowin’ up the spot tonight. It’s important to know that before Tim Westwood presented a TV show about tarting people’s cars up to look worse than they were to begin with, he actually had a hand in promoting quality hip hop back in the early pirate radio days.

This particular mix is taken from 1985 on LWR. It is rather short and, in truth contains approximately two tracks, but don’t let that put you off. Novelty value can be found from hearing Mr Westwood delivering a radio introduction that doesn’t descend into a melee of mock-hop stylings from a b-boy old enough to be your dad. Also, no overly repetitive explosion samples (once per show really is enough, Tim). It seems this mini mix was actually a cut from a larger mix, but no way of knowing for sure (do get in contact if you know otherwise).

Minor trivia fact: Jeep Beat Collective released an 2 x 12inch EP in 1996 featuring various versions of a track entitled ‘Westwood Is A Twat (Allegedly)’ on the second disc. Wonder if Tim scored a copy?

DJ Hollywood & Brucie B: Tim Westwood Shout Mix (6mins, 9MB) [rapidshare]

Softlightes - Say no to being cool say yes to being happy

(Modular, 2007)



The wise rhetoric of the Californian indie-pop band’s debut album title can be regarded from two different perspectives. One is the general way Softlightes’ beautifully-softvoiced leader Ron Fountenberry describes it – to listen to music that you like rather than what’s cool, although it’s bordering on hypocrisy for an artist on the so hot right now Modular roster to dispense that advice. The second way to interpret the title is as it relates to the artistic merits of the album itself, to forget about people’s perceptions, and create an album that produces happiness. It’s here that this album truly succeeds, as whether it’s the cyborg foot stomp of The Robots In My Bedroom Were Playing Arena Rock, or the pining nomadic loneliness of A Town Named Blue, there is an embracing assertion of hope; warm and anxiety-conquering like a the feel of a cuddle as you sleep. Guitars, computers and pianos all lead different tracks, but throughout the melodic record’s entirety there remains an indelibly human touch and a need to connect with other people. When Fountenberry leads The Microwave Song’s anthemic chorus of I am just a microwave, it doesn’t matter that the anthem is meaningless, when it’s the act of singing it with somebody else that’s unifying. American bands of a similar sound like The Flaming Lips and The Postal Service have been issuing material along the same lines for a while, but shrugging Softlightes off as just another in a long indie-pop line would be like dismissing Marvin Gaye because The Four Tops had already done Motown. An endearing album with life-improving potential.

Label: Ntone

Catalog#: NTONE 43

Format: 2xLP

Country: UK

Released: Aug 2000

Genre: Electronic

Style: Electro

Tracklisting:

A1 Rewind Intro

A2 Communication Break-Down

A3 Deadly Media

A4 Timber (Hardwood Mix)

Co-producer - Black&More

B1 Ninja Tune

B2 Kids Can Dance

B3 Robopop

C1 Vector

C2 The Horn

C3 Robopop (Cyclon Attack Mix)

Remix - Hexstatic

D1 Auto

Producer, Written By - Stuart Warren Hill , Tom Middleton

D2 Machine Toy

D3 Bass Invader

code

The Studio - Yearbook 1

(Information, 2007)



Never put stock in MySpace genre tags, but the page for Sweden's Studio says "Experimental/Afro-beat/Pop" and that's a decent start. It's vague enough for almost anything to happen, but with one specific reference point that pushes expectations in an interesting direction. The band consists of just two people, Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg, though they do a nice job of sounding much bigger. Their music has been trickling out slowly since 2001-- a 7" here, an EP there-- but somehow none of it made its way to CD until last month. This record on the band's own label collects versions of work issued last year on two vinyl-only releases, the LP West Coast and the 12-inch "No Comply".

(...)

Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions

(Domino, 2007)



It must be fantastic being Domino Records and having the space, the scope and the vision to release albums like Von Südenfed's Tromatic Reflexxions, which teams Mark E Smith, distinctive-voiced uber-prolific mainstay of The Fall with electronic beat meisters Jan St Werner and Andi Toma of Mouse On Mars.



Discoing up arch punk miserablist and Gollum-lookalike Smith is a completely bonkers idea. It should be enough to convince you that whoever first suggested it must have eaten a few too many disco smarties before coming to the meeting, but it does work, as those of you who remember the 2005 release Wipe That Sound, on which Smith first teamed up with the MoM lads, will remember.

mp3 music free mix jazz

The Heritage Orchestra - The Heritage Orchestra

(Brownswood, 2006)



Marriage of nu-jazz rhythms and classical instrumentation gets thumbs-up from Gilles Peterson.



With sprawling, symphonic arrangements, jazz solos and snappy broken beats, the 45-piece Heritage Orchestra is a crossover dream come true. Part classical ensemble, part nu-jazz big band, it's easy to see why Gilles Peterson signed the band for his new record label, Brownswood.



A youthful classical orchestra, their eight-piece rhythm section includes ace improvisers (not least Ross Stanley on Rhodes and piano), while Ninja Tune's Chris Bowden adds acid-sharp alto sax to an already accomplished wind section. The cocktail of improvisers and classicists is great on Mothers And Daughters Now Mothers, as gutsy ensemble work swirls into hard-edged blaxploitation funk with a fire-breathing solo from Bowden.

The mastermix series rolls on. A short and sweet effort this time, with the personal touch from Rich Color:

“London’s Kiss Fm began broadcasting illegally on 94fm in October 1985 and soon Colin Faver played this mix late one evening. It blew me away. Some correspondence to Colin followed and by special request he played it again, this time it was broadcast in stereo. Enjoy that rough yet beautiful transmission here.”

Colin Faver: Kiss FM Hardest Mix (5mins, 6MB) [rapidshare]

Tracklisting

1. Malcolm McLaren - Do You Like Scratching?
2. Grandmaster Flash - Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel
3. (Paradise Is Very Nice)
4. Herbie Hancock - Rockit
5. Chic - Good Times
6. Kurtis Blow - Party Time
7. Incredible Bongo Band - Apache
8. Freeze - AEIOU
9. Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)
10. Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals

Okay, so we’ve gotta step it up a gear here - too many classic mastermixes going unheard! Not too much on the words and unfortunately no tracklisting, but plenty of that unmistakeable mid-eighties soulful sound that was on every dial in the land back in the day. Rich Color:

“Saw an ad for this 12-inch white label in the back of ‘Blues and Soul’ magazine, circa 1985. Low quality bootleg pressing, so it required a good deal of cleaning up. On the record are three unknown, unnamed, anonymous mastermixes. Here’s the first one, hereby known as the ‘Jam On It’ mix as it takes the Newcleus electro track as it’s foundation break.”

Disco 45: Jam On It (10mins, 12MB) [rapidshare]

Slowdive - Souvlaki

(Creation, 1993)



Two generations of head-rockers meet on Souvlaki, the second full album by England's ethereal Slowdive. Veteran ambient soundmeister Brian Eno produced, arranged, and played keyboards on two tracks, but his presence isn't nearly as obvious as it is with U2, which is more of testament to Slowdive's own dreamy Another Green World aesthetic than to any laziness on Eno's part. The lulling melodic undertow of the group's early EPs is present in subtle new variations on songs such as "Allison," "Machine Gun," and "Souvlaki Space Station," but Eno blurs the foreground and background, giving the album a pleasant, swirling mix that's never static or predictable.

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