Pulse-8 Records: 1993
Though not as impactful as Haddaway's What Is Love, I'd rank Captain Hollywood Project's More & More just as influential on developing my eurodance tastes. Beyond that major hit, however, the musical conglomerate fronted by Tony Dawson-Harrison failed to have much presence in Canadaland, such that it was years before I heard anything else from him. By the time I did stumble upon CHP's debut album, I was well beyond my honeymoon years with the genre, wooed by the allure of goa and German trance instead. Love Is Not Sex sounded hopelessly dated and tired to those ears, and I utterly rejected it as anything worthy of future consideration. Not sure why I had such a knee-jerk reaction to it – was I just too over-familiar with Nosie Katzmann's songwriting?
Whatever the case, those are musings for a future review should I reconcile my impression of Love Is Not Sex. Instead, let's focus on the second single from that album, one that I do remember quite liking at the time. In many ways, it's More & More: Mark II, what with the simple, punchy synth lead, gentle backing pads, rugged eurodance rhythms, and sultry female chorus. Something about this one just hits better though, as though those elements have been further distilled and refined to peak perfection. Why, even the chorus is better, making more sense as lovelorn lyrics than the vague notions of More & More.
Then there's Mr. Captain himself. He was never a fancy lyricist (how many euro rappers were?), but he easily made that up through pure suave, with one of the most gravelly voices from that era. And for whatever reason, he sounds quite fired up here, dropping in with “You. Should. Just. Chiilll.” that sends shivers down my spine. In a totally ironic, cheese-adoring sort of way, of course, ha-rumph ha-rumph. Anyhow, his message is basically “yo', stop fucking up our planet so much”, which doesn't match the chorus in the slightest, but hey, I totally buy his “pleadin'” when he laments that “our Earth is bleedin'”. Poignant content even three decades on, darn it all.
If y'all haven't all turned away in contempt at getting my cheddar on, how about some 'serious' remixes then? The Faze II Mix was apparently done by a guy called Paul Newman, whom you may know as Tall Paul. It's certainly trancier than the usual fare I've heard from The Tall One, though not as trancey as the Trance Mix at the end of this single. Sort of that middle-ground where anthem house and trance could meet back in the day. Speaking of anthem house, Rollo's here with two remixes as well! They're... not as interesting, the Piracy Mix sounding like it wants to be a Jersey club option, the Relentless Mix adding some acid and anthems to the fray. And where's Captain Hollywood in all these remixes? It's weird hearing him just in the Trance Mix, where you'd lest expect him.
Showing posts with label trance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trance. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Friday, June 4, 2021
Hearts Of Space - Hearts Of Space
Fax +49-69/450464/Ambient World: 1993/2008
Even among the numerous Namlook collaborations, his pairing with Pascal F.E.O.S. goes way back. To the start of Fax+. To a time before Fax+ ever existed! True, it was only a couple of one-off tunes released for ZYX Music, but they're there, listed within Lord Discogs' tomes. Not that the Resistance D. member was the only such techno dude Pete was working with in those pre-Fax+ days. There was also Christian Thier (Deltraxx, Sequential), Uwe Schmidt (Jet Chamber, Subsequence), and Maik Maurice (4Voice), all lending talents to records on Harthouse, Pod Communication, and Trigger (?). Not to mention Mr. Kuhlman's time in a jazz-rock band called Romantic Warrior throughout the '80s.
The Fax+ years is where most figure Namlook's star truly started shining though, and Hearts Of Space truly was among the first 'big' collaborations that got folks looking in. And 4Voice, I guess. Look, when you get to work with both members of Resistance D., the folks of Techno Town are gonna' notice. Hearts Of Space though, that got my attention for two reasons. One, the clear nod of recognition towards seminal '80s ambient and New Age label of the same name. Two, the track Drawn appearing on the personally influential VHS tape 3Lux3. Such space ambient, very CGI, so wow.
Drawn is a pure Namlookian slice of ambience though, hardly indicative of the Hearts Of Space stylee. This being a techno-trance outing from early '90s Frankfurt, you bet your bottom Deutsche mark the BPMs are blistering fast, the synth pads are outer-orbit, and the acid loops are never-ending. A track like All About Sensuality may be downright shocking to those not familiar with these earliest Fax+ offerings, proto-gabber beats and Cosmic Love claps aplenty. Why wasn't the whole album just Sensualitys and Drawns?
That's because those were ambient B-sides to Drawn To The Thrill and All About Sensuality. While I don't doubt Namlook was quite fond of this style of music, it's clear they weren't the initial selling points, figuring the techno A-sides would get his fledgling label attention in clubland. Still, it's funny that while a vintage trancer like With A Medium Into Trance can't help but sound dated nearly three decades on, the simple synthy beauty of Drawn remains timeless.
If it seems like I'm not getting too deep into Hearts Of Space, it's because there isn't that much to detail. Like many early Fax+ albums, it was more a consolidation of singles, and if you aren't into the Frankfurt style of early trance, this probably won't change your mind. The ambient pieces are nice, though you can find them on many other collections of Namlook ambient. I'm not even sure if Pascal F.E.O.S. fans would deem this essential, his later techno explorations far removed from this era. Still, Hearts Of Space remains a nifty time capsule of a label finding its footing, hinting at the sort of collaborative star-power that would soon propel it into one of the '90s most intriguing ambient techno prints.
Even among the numerous Namlook collaborations, his pairing with Pascal F.E.O.S. goes way back. To the start of Fax+. To a time before Fax+ ever existed! True, it was only a couple of one-off tunes released for ZYX Music, but they're there, listed within Lord Discogs' tomes. Not that the Resistance D. member was the only such techno dude Pete was working with in those pre-Fax+ days. There was also Christian Thier (Deltraxx, Sequential), Uwe Schmidt (Jet Chamber, Subsequence), and Maik Maurice (4Voice), all lending talents to records on Harthouse, Pod Communication, and Trigger (?). Not to mention Mr. Kuhlman's time in a jazz-rock band called Romantic Warrior throughout the '80s.
The Fax+ years is where most figure Namlook's star truly started shining though, and Hearts Of Space truly was among the first 'big' collaborations that got folks looking in. And 4Voice, I guess. Look, when you get to work with both members of Resistance D., the folks of Techno Town are gonna' notice. Hearts Of Space though, that got my attention for two reasons. One, the clear nod of recognition towards seminal '80s ambient and New Age label of the same name. Two, the track Drawn appearing on the personally influential VHS tape 3Lux3. Such space ambient, very CGI, so wow.
Drawn is a pure Namlookian slice of ambience though, hardly indicative of the Hearts Of Space stylee. This being a techno-trance outing from early '90s Frankfurt, you bet your bottom Deutsche mark the BPMs are blistering fast, the synth pads are outer-orbit, and the acid loops are never-ending. A track like All About Sensuality may be downright shocking to those not familiar with these earliest Fax+ offerings, proto-gabber beats and Cosmic Love claps aplenty. Why wasn't the whole album just Sensualitys and Drawns?
That's because those were ambient B-sides to Drawn To The Thrill and All About Sensuality. While I don't doubt Namlook was quite fond of this style of music, it's clear they weren't the initial selling points, figuring the techno A-sides would get his fledgling label attention in clubland. Still, it's funny that while a vintage trancer like With A Medium Into Trance can't help but sound dated nearly three decades on, the simple synthy beauty of Drawn remains timeless.
If it seems like I'm not getting too deep into Hearts Of Space, it's because there isn't that much to detail. Like many early Fax+ albums, it was more a consolidation of singles, and if you aren't into the Frankfurt style of early trance, this probably won't change your mind. The ambient pieces are nice, though you can find them on many other collections of Namlook ambient. I'm not even sure if Pascal F.E.O.S. fans would deem this essential, his later techno explorations far removed from this era. Still, Hearts Of Space remains a nifty time capsule of a label finding its footing, hinting at the sort of collaborative star-power that would soon propel it into one of the '90s most intriguing ambient techno prints.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Yamaoka - A Frozen Stream
Carpe Sonum Records: 2018
It's been a couple years since I last talked about Yamoaka, plenty of time to have dove deep into his extensive back-catalogue. Sadly, I have not done so, which is weird given how much I enjoyed his collaborative album with Purl, Simple Songs. I must have been so wrapped up in Purlmania (really, an extension of Silent Seasonmania), that I overlooked Yamoaka's contributions to that album as something worth further exploration. I can't even cop to grabbing A Frozen Stream as the start of my course correction, nabbing it because the striking cover art caught my attention in another Carpe Sonum Records raid. But man, after listening to this one, I definitely need to do more digging into Yamaoka's discography, his Databloem material at bare minimum.
And what exactly is the Yamaoka stylee? Looping music done on the fly, for the most part, with a heavy dose of echo such that his sounds tend to create rhythms of their own, while melodies shimmer in a staccato fashion. Most would name-drop The Field or Gas in comparison, while I naturally refer to Rapoon. None are entirely accurate though, Yamaoka finding his own niche with such techniques. Whereas the others often use samples, lending their loops to a more angular feel, Yamaoka crafts his live, creating a natural flow in his tracks. His contributions to Simple Songs certainly stand out now that I know what to listen for, Purl's work reliant on backing pads in dubby treatments in that album. A Frozen Stream is Yamaoka on his own, so less of that, but still just as much of a trancey journey.
Aaah, not the 'j' word! Okay, yeah, that's overselling things a little. This is all just a little too abstract for a proper journey album, but each piece is a lovely little ride while they play. Some are rather upbeat without relying on much of percussion, if at all (Shaman, Three Stairs), while others use sparse kicks, toms, and hi-hats (Reply, MB (Short), Room (Fade In), leading the music into the domain of melodic, hypnotic techno. Or ambient techno. Or neo-trance. Whatever you prefer.
There's also a few pure ambient pieces on A Frozen Stream but even these have subtle looping elements to them rather than traditional drone. Tracks like White Out and Seat even hint at some modern classical touches in Yamaoka's repertoire, which wouldn't surprise me considering one of his Databloem albums is titled Short Films For Long Days.
The only real odd-man out on this lovely little album is On Switch, a track that is so rhythm reliant, I couldn't help but think of Amon Tobin as it played. It certainly has plenty of time to stretch, breaking the ten-minute mark and all. While some of the gentle, sparkly synth tones still lend a sense of tranquility to the track, the drums are drastically harsh compared to what's come before. Be prepared for a sudden whiplash should you choose to doze off to A Frozen Stream.
It's been a couple years since I last talked about Yamoaka, plenty of time to have dove deep into his extensive back-catalogue. Sadly, I have not done so, which is weird given how much I enjoyed his collaborative album with Purl, Simple Songs. I must have been so wrapped up in Purlmania (really, an extension of Silent Seasonmania), that I overlooked Yamoaka's contributions to that album as something worth further exploration. I can't even cop to grabbing A Frozen Stream as the start of my course correction, nabbing it because the striking cover art caught my attention in another Carpe Sonum Records raid. But man, after listening to this one, I definitely need to do more digging into Yamaoka's discography, his Databloem material at bare minimum.
And what exactly is the Yamaoka stylee? Looping music done on the fly, for the most part, with a heavy dose of echo such that his sounds tend to create rhythms of their own, while melodies shimmer in a staccato fashion. Most would name-drop The Field or Gas in comparison, while I naturally refer to Rapoon. None are entirely accurate though, Yamaoka finding his own niche with such techniques. Whereas the others often use samples, lending their loops to a more angular feel, Yamaoka crafts his live, creating a natural flow in his tracks. His contributions to Simple Songs certainly stand out now that I know what to listen for, Purl's work reliant on backing pads in dubby treatments in that album. A Frozen Stream is Yamaoka on his own, so less of that, but still just as much of a trancey journey.
Aaah, not the 'j' word! Okay, yeah, that's overselling things a little. This is all just a little too abstract for a proper journey album, but each piece is a lovely little ride while they play. Some are rather upbeat without relying on much of percussion, if at all (Shaman, Three Stairs), while others use sparse kicks, toms, and hi-hats (Reply, MB (Short), Room (Fade In), leading the music into the domain of melodic, hypnotic techno. Or ambient techno. Or neo-trance. Whatever you prefer.
There's also a few pure ambient pieces on A Frozen Stream but even these have subtle looping elements to them rather than traditional drone. Tracks like White Out and Seat even hint at some modern classical touches in Yamaoka's repertoire, which wouldn't surprise me considering one of his Databloem albums is titled Short Films For Long Days.
The only real odd-man out on this lovely little album is On Switch, a track that is so rhythm reliant, I couldn't help but think of Amon Tobin as it played. It certainly has plenty of time to stretch, breaking the ten-minute mark and all. While some of the gentle, sparkly synth tones still lend a sense of tranquility to the track, the drums are drastically harsh compared to what's come before. Be prepared for a sudden whiplash should you choose to doze off to A Frozen Stream.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
ACE TRACKS: August 2020
Well that was certainly a more productive month on my part. In fact, that was one of my most active Augusts ever, though the lack of a Shambhala Music Festival at the start certainly played a factor in that. What gives? Tapping into a fresh well of inspiration? Stress and distraction contained to a minimum after a bout of shingles made me rethink how I was doing this life thing? Going for a biodynamic craniosacral treatment clearing up a lot more of the clutter in my headspace than I could have possibly thought? Probably a little of everything, though Blogger's forced 'upgrade' also kinda' got me hype for this hobby again. Ooh, I can see all the cover art now!
Yet I can't help but still feel like it's not enough. True, it's been nineteen months since I had a thirty-day period more productive than this past August, but I still remember the days when I'd crank out well over twenty a month. Will I ever reach those highs again? Should I even be concerning myself with that? It almost feels like a triumph to have gotten back to double-digits at this point, and who knows if that momentum can be maintained. Having a lot of... 'interesting' music coming down the line certainly helps. Like, just gander at how much interesting music I got through this past month, and believe me, we've yet to scratch the surface of where my muse has been wandering this past year. Still, enjoy this appetizer of ACE TRACKS for the month of August.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Distant System - Infinite Continuum
Part-Sub-Merged - Four Forests
Moljebka Pvlse - Discourse On Lightness
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 14%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Viking metal. Even if you dig it, it's undeniably tonal whiplash in this playlist.
So a lot of Lars Leonhard on here, in case you hadn't heard enough from him yet. Really stress-testing that 'each album is distinct' theory now, though I did mostly remember which tracks came from which LPs as this played out.
And not much else to comment on. This playlist has a little of everything from the usual genres I typically enjoy, with side-glances to some more niche corners. Surprising lack of house music though. What, do I not have any more Hed Kandi CDs left? Maybe it's time for another used store ru- oh, right. Yeah...
Yet I can't help but still feel like it's not enough. True, it's been nineteen months since I had a thirty-day period more productive than this past August, but I still remember the days when I'd crank out well over twenty a month. Will I ever reach those highs again? Should I even be concerning myself with that? It almost feels like a triumph to have gotten back to double-digits at this point, and who knows if that momentum can be maintained. Having a lot of... 'interesting' music coming down the line certainly helps. Like, just gander at how much interesting music I got through this past month, and believe me, we've yet to scratch the surface of where my muse has been wandering this past year. Still, enjoy this appetizer of ACE TRACKS for the month of August.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Distant System - Infinite Continuum
Part-Sub-Merged - Four Forests
Moljebka Pvlse - Discourse On Lightness
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 14%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Viking metal. Even if you dig it, it's undeniably tonal whiplash in this playlist.
So a lot of Lars Leonhard on here, in case you hadn't heard enough from him yet. Really stress-testing that 'each album is distinct' theory now, though I did mostly remember which tracks came from which LPs as this played out.
And not much else to comment on. This playlist has a little of everything from the usual genres I typically enjoy, with side-glances to some more niche corners. Surprising lack of house music though. What, do I not have any more Hed Kandi CDs left? Maybe it's time for another used store ru- oh, right. Yeah...
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Various - In Trance We Trust 010 - Collector's Edition 1
In Trance We Trust: 2004
I might as well complete the collection, right? Like, I'm only missing a handful of these compilations now. It'll be nice to say that I've a complete set of at least one long-running, on-going series should I show off all my CDs to someone. They'll say, “Boy, that's a lot of CDs, any complete collections?” And I'll say, “Yeah, one.” And they'll ask, “Is it Fabric? Balance? DJ-Kicks?” And I'll say, “No, nothing so prestigious.” And they'll say, “Ah, something more trancey then: Distance To Goa.” And I'll say, “No, not that either.” To which they'll ask, “Well, which one?” From which I'll reply, “In Trance We Trust.” After they'll inquiry, “But.. you dislike Dutch eurotrance. Why that series?” Forthwith I'll respond, “Because it was there.”
The tenth volume of In Trance We Trust's showcase mix series is unlike any other volume in its two-decade history, in that it's a 'best of' double-disc extravaganza! Look, it was the mid-'00s, when two CDs worth of music could still be considered a hefty amount to take in. The Black Hole Recordings off-shoot had been in operation for six years by the time it hit number 010, so I'm sure they felt the time was right for a little summation on their catalogue. Good thing too, considering the first creeps of trend-chasing decline would rear its head in the follow-up volume two years later (thanks, 'electro' house!). Say what you will about this early era of eurotrance, it at least knew what it was and made no apologies for it.
Like, I know I'm gonna' be in for breakdowns – oh lordy, are there ever breakdowns – but I don't hate these so much. I think I've just trained my brain to tune the naff bits out, and enjoy the elements that I do enjoy. The pumping rhythms, the spacey pads, the plucky riffs, the energetic leads, and, yes, even the occasional overwrought supersaw anthem, if tastefully done. Things still feel like in a state of flux in this period of eurotrance, the subtler, classy tunes still rubbing shoulders with outright cheese. And heck, even the cheese sometimes hits on those guilty pleasure endorphins the best of eurodance nails every time. Plus, the production isn't all unbearably bricked, which is nice. Ooh, I can hear the air between the beats!
As this is a 'collector's edition', there's no big spotlight on a guest DJ handling the mix, but Cor Fijneman does handle the CD2 set. CD1, meanwhile, isn't even mixed at all, making this the only disc in In Trance We Trust history to offer full, uncut tracks. I'm assuming these are the tunes that didn't fit in Cor's set, but still deserved highlighting of the label's history.
So lots of familiar names throughout, but one glaring omission stands out to my eyes: Fictivision's Ringworld. That's, like, my favouritest track from this label ever! No, I'm not just saying that because of the single's super-unique cover-art. It's a good trance tune, I swear!
I might as well complete the collection, right? Like, I'm only missing a handful of these compilations now. It'll be nice to say that I've a complete set of at least one long-running, on-going series should I show off all my CDs to someone. They'll say, “Boy, that's a lot of CDs, any complete collections?” And I'll say, “Yeah, one.” And they'll ask, “Is it Fabric? Balance? DJ-Kicks?” And I'll say, “No, nothing so prestigious.” And they'll say, “Ah, something more trancey then: Distance To Goa.” And I'll say, “No, not that either.” To which they'll ask, “Well, which one?” From which I'll reply, “In Trance We Trust.” After they'll inquiry, “But.. you dislike Dutch eurotrance. Why that series?” Forthwith I'll respond, “Because it was there.”
The tenth volume of In Trance We Trust's showcase mix series is unlike any other volume in its two-decade history, in that it's a 'best of' double-disc extravaganza! Look, it was the mid-'00s, when two CDs worth of music could still be considered a hefty amount to take in. The Black Hole Recordings off-shoot had been in operation for six years by the time it hit number 010, so I'm sure they felt the time was right for a little summation on their catalogue. Good thing too, considering the first creeps of trend-chasing decline would rear its head in the follow-up volume two years later (thanks, 'electro' house!). Say what you will about this early era of eurotrance, it at least knew what it was and made no apologies for it.
Like, I know I'm gonna' be in for breakdowns – oh lordy, are there ever breakdowns – but I don't hate these so much. I think I've just trained my brain to tune the naff bits out, and enjoy the elements that I do enjoy. The pumping rhythms, the spacey pads, the plucky riffs, the energetic leads, and, yes, even the occasional overwrought supersaw anthem, if tastefully done. Things still feel like in a state of flux in this period of eurotrance, the subtler, classy tunes still rubbing shoulders with outright cheese. And heck, even the cheese sometimes hits on those guilty pleasure endorphins the best of eurodance nails every time. Plus, the production isn't all unbearably bricked, which is nice. Ooh, I can hear the air between the beats!
As this is a 'collector's edition', there's no big spotlight on a guest DJ handling the mix, but Cor Fijneman does handle the CD2 set. CD1, meanwhile, isn't even mixed at all, making this the only disc in In Trance We Trust history to offer full, uncut tracks. I'm assuming these are the tunes that didn't fit in Cor's set, but still deserved highlighting of the label's history.
So lots of familiar names throughout, but one glaring omission stands out to my eyes: Fictivision's Ringworld. That's, like, my favouritest track from this label ever! No, I'm not just saying that because of the single's super-unique cover-art. It's a good trance tune, I swear!
Saturday, August 1, 2020
ACE TRACKS: March-July 2020
So I have shingles.
At least it's not COVID-19, right? And I don't feel sick, just frequent hot spikes of pain around my shoulder-blade (imagine a heated cactus ball rolling about) as my latent chicken-pox virus does its damage to all those tender nerve membranes. And you may be thinking, “wait, Sykonee can't be that old such that he'd get shingles?”, and you'd be right. Yet here we are. I already knew all the stress I've put upon myself this year wasn't doing me many favours, but the fact it suppressed my immune system enough such that the ol' varicella-zoster could act up again should have me rethinking the way I'm doing things.
And what's 'funny' about all this is, until it flared up, I thought I was doing fine, life-wise. Yeah, there were still things and stuffs lingering in the back of my mind, but I still had a good groove about doing it. I can only hope my stubbornness hasn't done permanent damage because dear God, this would suck to have to deal with for the rest of my life. Or get myself in on that all-encompassing opiod market America is known for.
That all said, I realized it's been five months since I last did an ACE TRACKS playlist. Figured after all that time, I'd amassed enough of a backlog to make one. Little did I realize the final list would be over 10 hours long! Gander, at the ACE TRACKS from March through July:
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Bedrock: Jimmy Van M
Various - Better Living Through Circuitry
Various - Beyond The Machines
Cryostasis - Between Static And Distance
Coma Eye - Insufflated Brine Shrimp
Astral Engineering - Chronoglide
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 3%
Percentage Of Rock: 19%
Most “WTF?” Track: Neo-Adventures - Whaaaauuu (because “whaaaaaauuuuu TF?”)
Okay, so I cheated a little in the length, in that I included the entirety of L.S.G.'s The Singles: Reworked at the end. Plus some of the all-time longest recorded pieces of music by both Banco de Gaia and Creedence Clearwater Revival ever committed to master tapes (ten minutes of CCR may as well be a prog-rock opus).
Even with those caveats though, the fact this playlist ended up as long as it did just goes to show I've been busier than I gave myself credit for. And diverse too, a little something for anyone's interest making its way into here, providing a surprisingly smooth listening experience compared to many playlists past. Of course, if no one wants to listen to it, because it'll remind you of *gestures wildly*, I wouldn't blame ya'. Heck, maybe it's why I put off on doing this for so long in the first place. It's been a Hell of a five months, it has.
Oh, and some may have noticed I've skipped ahead on my reviewing order. The 'B' section of my collection is too big for one sitting, so decided to split that up while dealing with a pile of other items I've had gathering in that time. Will probably resume with the 'B's in, oh, a year, at my current rate
At least it's not COVID-19, right? And I don't feel sick, just frequent hot spikes of pain around my shoulder-blade (imagine a heated cactus ball rolling about) as my latent chicken-pox virus does its damage to all those tender nerve membranes. And you may be thinking, “wait, Sykonee can't be that old such that he'd get shingles?”, and you'd be right. Yet here we are. I already knew all the stress I've put upon myself this year wasn't doing me many favours, but the fact it suppressed my immune system enough such that the ol' varicella-zoster could act up again should have me rethinking the way I'm doing things.
And what's 'funny' about all this is, until it flared up, I thought I was doing fine, life-wise. Yeah, there were still things and stuffs lingering in the back of my mind, but I still had a good groove about doing it. I can only hope my stubbornness hasn't done permanent damage because dear God, this would suck to have to deal with for the rest of my life. Or get myself in on that all-encompassing opiod market America is known for.
That all said, I realized it's been five months since I last did an ACE TRACKS playlist. Figured after all that time, I'd amassed enough of a backlog to make one. Little did I realize the final list would be over 10 hours long! Gander, at the ACE TRACKS from March through July:
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Bedrock: Jimmy Van M
Various - Better Living Through Circuitry
Various - Beyond The Machines
Cryostasis - Between Static And Distance
Coma Eye - Insufflated Brine Shrimp
Astral Engineering - Chronoglide
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 3%
Percentage Of Rock: 19%
Most “WTF?” Track: Neo-Adventures - Whaaaauuu (because “whaaaaaauuuuu TF?”)
Okay, so I cheated a little in the length, in that I included the entirety of L.S.G.'s The Singles: Reworked at the end. Plus some of the all-time longest recorded pieces of music by both Banco de Gaia and Creedence Clearwater Revival ever committed to master tapes (ten minutes of CCR may as well be a prog-rock opus).
Even with those caveats though, the fact this playlist ended up as long as it did just goes to show I've been busier than I gave myself credit for. And diverse too, a little something for anyone's interest making its way into here, providing a surprisingly smooth listening experience compared to many playlists past. Of course, if no one wants to listen to it, because it'll remind you of *gestures wildly*, I wouldn't blame ya'. Heck, maybe it's why I put off on doing this for so long in the first place. It's been a Hell of a five months, it has.
Oh, and some may have noticed I've skipped ahead on my reviewing order. The 'B' section of my collection is too big for one sitting, so decided to split that up while dealing with a pile of other items I've had gathering in that time. Will probably resume with the 'B's in, oh, a year, at my current rate
Labels:
Ace Tracks Playlists,
ambient,
arena rock,
breakbeats,
classic rock,
dark ambient,
downtempo,
drum 'n' bass,
hip-hop,
house,
L.S.G.,
progressive house,
synth-pop,
tech-house,
techno,
trance
Monday, June 22, 2020
Neo-Adventures - Big Daddy's Tonight
Hypnotic: 1997
This feels like one of the most needlessly ambitious albums to have ever graced the Hypnotic discography. For one thing, did you know that Neo-Adventures is a super-group? Okay, not really a 'super-group' how you may think of (big names combining forces to do big th'angs), but in terms of Hypnotic, I think the description is apt.
Three chaps are part of this project, most prominent of the bunch being Martin Nielsen. You might remember me mentioning him in that Goa Box: Trance 4 Motion compilation many solar cycles ago, wherein he adopted multiple aliases to fill out a budget trance three-discer. Normally such antics are dodgy as fuck, but his contributions were surprisingly among the best that collection had to offer. He even had a pile of tunes in another dodgy compilation of mine, Rave-Trance 2001, and again were among the better tracks there.
So while I know this won't be some mind-melting hidden gem of exceptional trance (because c'mon!), there's at least a capable hand in the studio. Along for the ride is the late Jan Kjølhede Meedom, whom had done a few productions with various groups here and there throughout the '90s, but was more known for his DJing and label management. Outloud Records (they of Audio Science, Bypass Unit, and a lot of sado-masochist gabber) was his first taste of success, and responsible for numerous Hypnotic releases as a result. This led to him taking over the Danish side of the print, where he carried on doing goa trance mixes for the label before moving on.
Also part of Neo-Adventures is Jakob Andreas Mensch. Lord Discogs has very little information about him, a jazz-dub trip-hop project with Mr. Nielsen called Katharsis his lone prominent work. Neo-Adventures too, I guess.
A pile of dudes in the studio doesn't make a project 'needlessly ambitious' though – just ask Kraftwelt. Nah, I'm talking about the music within, tunes aesthetically on that Danish goa-trance tip, but so very much aiming at progressive house opulence. Second track Good Old Adventure is over eleven minutes long, making it perhaps the longest trance song in all of Hypnotic's history (sans Audio Science's work). And it goes through numerous movements and tonal transitions too, as if its some long lost Blue Amazon work. Just, y'know, not quite as good in the production and songcraft.
There's housier chuggers (Skydiving Baboons, Wake Up Fall), tech-housey shufflers (the titular cut), spacey acid stompers (Hot Pants), proper trance business (Whhhaaauu ...cripes, what awful names), and even a twelve-plus minute live outing of Wake Up Fall (twice as long as the album version already on the CD). A nice amount of variety then, with nifty little hooks, rhythms, and melodies that do a decent job of getting my trance-endorphins flaring up. Again, no where near as good as whatever Sasha and Diggers would rinse out (not even Oakenfold, really), but on the late '90s Hypnotic scale, remarkably superb stuff for a hopelessly obscure release!
This feels like one of the most needlessly ambitious albums to have ever graced the Hypnotic discography. For one thing, did you know that Neo-Adventures is a super-group? Okay, not really a 'super-group' how you may think of (big names combining forces to do big th'angs), but in terms of Hypnotic, I think the description is apt.
Three chaps are part of this project, most prominent of the bunch being Martin Nielsen. You might remember me mentioning him in that Goa Box: Trance 4 Motion compilation many solar cycles ago, wherein he adopted multiple aliases to fill out a budget trance three-discer. Normally such antics are dodgy as fuck, but his contributions were surprisingly among the best that collection had to offer. He even had a pile of tunes in another dodgy compilation of mine, Rave-Trance 2001, and again were among the better tracks there.
So while I know this won't be some mind-melting hidden gem of exceptional trance (because c'mon!), there's at least a capable hand in the studio. Along for the ride is the late Jan Kjølhede Meedom, whom had done a few productions with various groups here and there throughout the '90s, but was more known for his DJing and label management. Outloud Records (they of Audio Science, Bypass Unit, and a lot of sado-masochist gabber) was his first taste of success, and responsible for numerous Hypnotic releases as a result. This led to him taking over the Danish side of the print, where he carried on doing goa trance mixes for the label before moving on.
Also part of Neo-Adventures is Jakob Andreas Mensch. Lord Discogs has very little information about him, a jazz-dub trip-hop project with Mr. Nielsen called Katharsis his lone prominent work. Neo-Adventures too, I guess.
A pile of dudes in the studio doesn't make a project 'needlessly ambitious' though – just ask Kraftwelt. Nah, I'm talking about the music within, tunes aesthetically on that Danish goa-trance tip, but so very much aiming at progressive house opulence. Second track Good Old Adventure is over eleven minutes long, making it perhaps the longest trance song in all of Hypnotic's history (sans Audio Science's work). And it goes through numerous movements and tonal transitions too, as if its some long lost Blue Amazon work. Just, y'know, not quite as good in the production and songcraft.
There's housier chuggers (Skydiving Baboons, Wake Up Fall), tech-housey shufflers (the titular cut), spacey acid stompers (Hot Pants), proper trance business (Whhhaaauu ...cripes, what awful names), and even a twelve-plus minute live outing of Wake Up Fall (twice as long as the album version already on the CD). A nice amount of variety then, with nifty little hooks, rhythms, and melodies that do a decent job of getting my trance-endorphins flaring up. Again, no where near as good as whatever Sasha and Diggers would rinse out (not even Oakenfold, really), but on the late '90s Hypnotic scale, remarkably superb stuff for a hopelessly obscure release!
Monday, June 15, 2020
Various - Beyond The Machines
Infonet: 1993
Looking at this CD sure brings back memories. Oh, not for any particular sentimental attachment to the compilation itself. In fact, I only recently came across this, during my last and final splurge on Bandulu material. Nay, what triggers the ol' nostalgia endorphins with Beyond The Machines is remembering how enamoured I'd get with such mysterious items like this.
The cover art some strange blend of manga and pulp comics. The track list consisting of such bizarre, unconventional names like Syzygy, Sulphuric, and Thunderground. Even the title hinted at music taking things to a totally different level of electronics, beyond whatever the original Detroit future-fetishists had in mind (to say nothing of the bouncy, poppy euro-dance that was the limit of my knowledge back when). Given the opportunity, Beyond The Machines could have been one of the seminal releases in Teenage Sykonee's developing interests and tastes, opening a whole unforeseen world of sonic possibilities. More realistically though, it'd probably get stacked along such compilations like Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too and The Sound Of Zero And One, techno collections just a tad too off the beaten path for me to 'get' as a dewy-eyed teenager.
Many years older now, and with a vast database of neigh-limitless knowledge at my fingertips, Beyond The Machines is a mysterious item no more. I know who Bandulu is. I know who Syzygy is (and truthfully, one of the main reasons I sprung for this along with the additional Bandulu material). I even know what Infonet is, and that this compilation was a showcase for the label's budding artists. Erm, not many of them stuck around longer than this CD, while one of them had already been making a name for himself in Detroit before (Eddie Fowlkes, who's I Wanna Know is definitely on that 'Detroit guys wanting to make Chicago deep house' tip). Subterfuge's Liquid Poetry reminds me of those way-early attempts at trance you'd hear out of non-Frankfurt regions of the deustchland, while Rev 1's Chochillics and Sulphuric's Better Come Together offer up the acid business.
Really though, Beyond The Machines is mostly about Bandulu and their various side-projects (Thunderground, Koh-Tao). Even the Syzygy track, Meditation, is rather Bandulu-ish, with its loopy nature and all, though quite trancey and mellow compared to the proper techno workouts the Bandulu-proper cuts offer. The opener Thunderground cut, Illegal Rush, inches closer to the domain of trance as well, while the track Amaranth could almost be a New Beat tune, what with its sampling of the synth arp from My Mine's Hypnotic Tango. Not so sure about those tinny trumpets though. As for the Koh-Tao cut, bluesy country-twang in dub is the last thing I'd have expected to hear, but here we are.
The dated quality of these tracks unfortunately does overwhelm much of Beyond The Machines, which leaves the CD more a curioso or completist item of interest. Bandulu did have a unique sound, but it's better highlighted on their albums than here.
Looking at this CD sure brings back memories. Oh, not for any particular sentimental attachment to the compilation itself. In fact, I only recently came across this, during my last and final splurge on Bandulu material. Nay, what triggers the ol' nostalgia endorphins with Beyond The Machines is remembering how enamoured I'd get with such mysterious items like this.
The cover art some strange blend of manga and pulp comics. The track list consisting of such bizarre, unconventional names like Syzygy, Sulphuric, and Thunderground. Even the title hinted at music taking things to a totally different level of electronics, beyond whatever the original Detroit future-fetishists had in mind (to say nothing of the bouncy, poppy euro-dance that was the limit of my knowledge back when). Given the opportunity, Beyond The Machines could have been one of the seminal releases in Teenage Sykonee's developing interests and tastes, opening a whole unforeseen world of sonic possibilities. More realistically though, it'd probably get stacked along such compilations like Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too and The Sound Of Zero And One, techno collections just a tad too off the beaten path for me to 'get' as a dewy-eyed teenager.
Many years older now, and with a vast database of neigh-limitless knowledge at my fingertips, Beyond The Machines is a mysterious item no more. I know who Bandulu is. I know who Syzygy is (and truthfully, one of the main reasons I sprung for this along with the additional Bandulu material). I even know what Infonet is, and that this compilation was a showcase for the label's budding artists. Erm, not many of them stuck around longer than this CD, while one of them had already been making a name for himself in Detroit before (Eddie Fowlkes, who's I Wanna Know is definitely on that 'Detroit guys wanting to make Chicago deep house' tip). Subterfuge's Liquid Poetry reminds me of those way-early attempts at trance you'd hear out of non-Frankfurt regions of the deustchland, while Rev 1's Chochillics and Sulphuric's Better Come Together offer up the acid business.
Really though, Beyond The Machines is mostly about Bandulu and their various side-projects (Thunderground, Koh-Tao). Even the Syzygy track, Meditation, is rather Bandulu-ish, with its loopy nature and all, though quite trancey and mellow compared to the proper techno workouts the Bandulu-proper cuts offer. The opener Thunderground cut, Illegal Rush, inches closer to the domain of trance as well, while the track Amaranth could almost be a New Beat tune, what with its sampling of the synth arp from My Mine's Hypnotic Tango. Not so sure about those tinny trumpets though. As for the Koh-Tao cut, bluesy country-twang in dub is the last thing I'd have expected to hear, but here we are.
The dated quality of these tracks unfortunately does overwhelm much of Beyond The Machines, which leaves the CD more a curioso or completist item of interest. Bandulu did have a unique sound, but it's better highlighted on their albums than here.
Friday, June 12, 2020
L.S.G. - The Best Of L.S.G. (The Singles Reworked)
Superstition: 2004
I can't recall if folks thought it at the time, but it did seem the L.S.G. era of Oliver Lieb's career was over. You usually don't do a 'Best Of' collection if you figure there's still more in the tank for a project. By the year 2004, however, the signs were aplenty that times were a'changein'. Chief among them, L.S.G. was soon to be homeless, the label Superstition unable to adapt with the ever-shifting trends in clubland. They tried getting in on that digital download thing with a run of L.S.G. singles re-issues, but it wasn't enough. Thus a finished album following The Hive went unreleased, and Lieb moved onto other things. Say, that minimal techno thing is catching on, how about that? Ah well, at least Superstition lived long enough to let Lieb do a 'remix album' of all the tunes that helped make the label one of trance's taste-makers of the '90s.
And honestly, I don't think an L.S.G. 'best of' could have worked as anything other than a 'reworking' of all his singles. The easy, lazy thing to do would be to just slap them all on a disc, maybe force a continuous mix out of it, and call it a day, but ol' Oliver had taken the project through many different paths over the decade of its existence. How could one's muse be satisfied with how the original works sounded after gaining so much experience in the studio since? I'm sure ideas and re-imaginings had been sloshing in his brain for a while (especially during the Into Deep sessions, if the final result is any indication), forming sonic links and chains among his various tracks. True, there's always been signature markers that let you know you're dealing with a Lieb production (the gated synths, the impeccable drum programming, those claps), but why not sum it all up in one uber-album retrospective?
Folly for me, I didn't 'get it' when I first threw on The Singles Reworked. Maybe I was more enamoured by the second disc holding all those non-album L.S.G. tunes, in my clutches for the first time and all (Hearts! Transmutation! Blueprint! Fragile (Gravity Fools The Magician Remix By Vapourspace)...?). Or maybe I was just so unfamiliar with all the reworked tunes that I couldn't appreciate the changes. Aside from My Time Is Yours, The Train Of Thought and Netherworld, none had appeared on an L.S.G. album. For a while, I thought it all cool and neat sounding, but cribbing just a bit too much from Into Deep's aesthetic to stand out as its own unique thing. As I said, folly for me.
But yes, time and repeated plays has provided enough perspective such that I hear The Singles Reworked as more than just a 'best of' remix record. It truly is an album unto itself, just with familiar melodies in a different context from their original conception. Think of it like an 'unplugged' session, except still very much plugged in.
I can't recall if folks thought it at the time, but it did seem the L.S.G. era of Oliver Lieb's career was over. You usually don't do a 'Best Of' collection if you figure there's still more in the tank for a project. By the year 2004, however, the signs were aplenty that times were a'changein'. Chief among them, L.S.G. was soon to be homeless, the label Superstition unable to adapt with the ever-shifting trends in clubland. They tried getting in on that digital download thing with a run of L.S.G. singles re-issues, but it wasn't enough. Thus a finished album following The Hive went unreleased, and Lieb moved onto other things. Say, that minimal techno thing is catching on, how about that? Ah well, at least Superstition lived long enough to let Lieb do a 'remix album' of all the tunes that helped make the label one of trance's taste-makers of the '90s.
And honestly, I don't think an L.S.G. 'best of' could have worked as anything other than a 'reworking' of all his singles. The easy, lazy thing to do would be to just slap them all on a disc, maybe force a continuous mix out of it, and call it a day, but ol' Oliver had taken the project through many different paths over the decade of its existence. How could one's muse be satisfied with how the original works sounded after gaining so much experience in the studio since? I'm sure ideas and re-imaginings had been sloshing in his brain for a while (especially during the Into Deep sessions, if the final result is any indication), forming sonic links and chains among his various tracks. True, there's always been signature markers that let you know you're dealing with a Lieb production (the gated synths, the impeccable drum programming, those claps), but why not sum it all up in one uber-album retrospective?
Folly for me, I didn't 'get it' when I first threw on The Singles Reworked. Maybe I was more enamoured by the second disc holding all those non-album L.S.G. tunes, in my clutches for the first time and all (Hearts! Transmutation! Blueprint! Fragile (Gravity Fools The Magician Remix By Vapourspace)...?). Or maybe I was just so unfamiliar with all the reworked tunes that I couldn't appreciate the changes. Aside from My Time Is Yours, The Train Of Thought and Netherworld, none had appeared on an L.S.G. album. For a while, I thought it all cool and neat sounding, but cribbing just a bit too much from Into Deep's aesthetic to stand out as its own unique thing. As I said, folly for me.
But yes, time and repeated plays has provided enough perspective such that I hear The Singles Reworked as more than just a 'best of' remix record. It truly is an album unto itself, just with familiar melodies in a different context from their original conception. Think of it like an 'unplugged' session, except still very much plugged in.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Yamaoka & Purl - Simple Songs
Databloem: 2018
Far be it for me to get flustered over seeing certain artists flit between labels I figured would have little cross-pollination, but it's still weird to see a chap I discovered on Silent Season appear on Databloem. First it was Segue, and now Purl, both producers that helped cement in my mind the definitive dubby, trancey, techno-chill Silent Season stylee (ASC too). And while it's a sound that could fit with Databloem's rather liberal explorations on downtempo and ambient music, they still have generally different followers. You'll never see a glowing write-up of Databloem on Resident Advisor, nosiree.
Fortunately, such artists aren't so constrained by label loyalty that they don't mind dipping into other's pools on occasion. Ludvig Cimbrelius (Purl) has in fact done the deed many times over the course of his career, including such labels as... wait, didn't I already do the obligatory Label Namedrop when I reviewed Stillpoint? *checks* I didn't! Ah sweet! Ahem... Labels such as Sediment, Dewtone Recordings, Eternell, and Faint. Many of those releases included pairings with other producers such as Sinius, Deflektion, and Hivertribe. So teaming up with this Yamoaka isn't out of the ordinary for Purl. Still, I'll be flubber-flustered if he ends up pairing up with, say, a dark ambient producer, releasing an album on, say, a drone label. Wait a minute, my Bandcamp bell just rung, let me che- Son of a gun!!
Yamaoka is headed by Yoshinori Yamazaki (Kenichi Oka was once a member, so sayeth Lord Discogs). Yet another one of those tireless ambient producers churning out multiple rare albums on multiple obscure labels like October Man Recordings, Secret Station, Doppelganger, Carpe... Sonum... Records? Dear God, everything I know that is ambient is collapsing within itself!
Anyhow, Simple Songs. Two types of compositions make up this album. The first are the long, ambient dronescapes where minimalist looping passages and melodies are stretched out like ethereal embers across a picturesque skyline. Very lovely, very calming, very expected of another release out of Databloem. The other assortment contain more momentum to them, quicker in their loops such that they percolate into pseudo-rhythms. Add a kick drum underneath these, and you could easily have trance, or neo-trance, or whatever folks want to call this stuff. So of course Yam' n' Pur' do so (or close approximates of) in tracks like Spinning Grid, Simple Songs, and River Run. Ah, that's the Silent Season stuff I was looking for.
And I won't lie, though I've come across a fair bit of mint material from this Databloem splurge, Simple Songs has thus far taken the cake for me. Yeah, it's a small cheat in cribbing the same dreamy dubby vibes as has made Silent Season among my favourite prints as of late, combining two enjoyed styles into one awesome whole. This is what great electronic music does though: mix and merge into wonderfully fascinating new combinations. And a staid scene such as ambient could use more of such worlds colliding.
Far be it for me to get flustered over seeing certain artists flit between labels I figured would have little cross-pollination, but it's still weird to see a chap I discovered on Silent Season appear on Databloem. First it was Segue, and now Purl, both producers that helped cement in my mind the definitive dubby, trancey, techno-chill Silent Season stylee (ASC too). And while it's a sound that could fit with Databloem's rather liberal explorations on downtempo and ambient music, they still have generally different followers. You'll never see a glowing write-up of Databloem on Resident Advisor, nosiree.
Fortunately, such artists aren't so constrained by label loyalty that they don't mind dipping into other's pools on occasion. Ludvig Cimbrelius (Purl) has in fact done the deed many times over the course of his career, including such labels as... wait, didn't I already do the obligatory Label Namedrop when I reviewed Stillpoint? *checks* I didn't! Ah sweet! Ahem... Labels such as Sediment, Dewtone Recordings, Eternell, and Faint. Many of those releases included pairings with other producers such as Sinius, Deflektion, and Hivertribe. So teaming up with this Yamoaka isn't out of the ordinary for Purl. Still, I'll be flubber-flustered if he ends up pairing up with, say, a dark ambient producer, releasing an album on, say, a drone label. Wait a minute, my Bandcamp bell just rung, let me che- Son of a gun!!
Yamaoka is headed by Yoshinori Yamazaki (Kenichi Oka was once a member, so sayeth Lord Discogs). Yet another one of those tireless ambient producers churning out multiple rare albums on multiple obscure labels like October Man Recordings, Secret Station, Doppelganger, Carpe... Sonum... Records? Dear God, everything I know that is ambient is collapsing within itself!
Anyhow, Simple Songs. Two types of compositions make up this album. The first are the long, ambient dronescapes where minimalist looping passages and melodies are stretched out like ethereal embers across a picturesque skyline. Very lovely, very calming, very expected of another release out of Databloem. The other assortment contain more momentum to them, quicker in their loops such that they percolate into pseudo-rhythms. Add a kick drum underneath these, and you could easily have trance, or neo-trance, or whatever folks want to call this stuff. So of course Yam' n' Pur' do so (or close approximates of) in tracks like Spinning Grid, Simple Songs, and River Run. Ah, that's the Silent Season stuff I was looking for.
And I won't lie, though I've come across a fair bit of mint material from this Databloem splurge, Simple Songs has thus far taken the cake for me. Yeah, it's a small cheat in cribbing the same dreamy dubby vibes as has made Silent Season among my favourite prints as of late, combining two enjoyed styles into one awesome whole. This is what great electronic music does though: mix and merge into wonderfully fascinating new combinations. And a staid scene such as ambient could use more of such worlds colliding.
Labels:
2018,
album,
ambient,
ambient dub,
Databloem,
dub techno,
Purl,
trance,
Yamaoka
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Cosmic Replicant - Processes
self-released: 2018
Normally I'd prefer a little space between reviews of the same artist, but Cosmic Replicant has proven so diverse, I'm practically covering someone different with each album. Like, just from an ear-glance, you'd never have guessed the music on Processes came from the same chap who made Future Memories or Soul Of The Universe. You might have made the connection based off of Landscapes Motion, and perhaps, if you squinted in the right direction, Mission Infinity. Surely little that was released through Altar Records though. Honestly, I'm not surprised Pavel's gone the independent route, the music he's releasing of late hardly gelling with traditional psy-chill prints, but likely not finding much footing with labels outside that field either. Or who knows, maybe one of his pure ambient outings might find a re-issue on Carpe Sonum Records. They don't all have to be Fax+ alum to appear on that label, do they?
Where does that leave Processes though? What label might be willing to give this seven track album a little more shine beyond the Cosmic Replicant contingent (we small few but proud). I feel super-cheeky in suggesting this, but perhaps... Kompakt? Or baring that, maybe... Music Man Records? I'm getting a real neo-trance vibe from these tracks, techno that is rather deep, with subtle building layers of melody. Tunes that wouldn't sound out of place in a set shared with the likes of The Field or Petar Dundov, is what I'm saying.
Okay, not so much the first couple tracks, more following on the dub techno explorations Pavel first ventured with in Landscapes Motion. Hypno Snake treads a little into Detroit's pastures, while Ants In My Computer does the droning minimal thing with peculating sounds that would fit snuggly in on one of Luke Slater's Planetary Assault Systems records.
Those are mere warm-ups though, Factory Processes getting in on that lengthy, loopy melodic techno stylee that's made neo-trance a maybe kinda' sorta' thing with the above-mentioned producers; Silent Season too, at their more upbeat moments. Mirror Cube and Morning Robots try to get back to the proper dub techno vibe, but even they're too chipper and melodic (them sparse bell tones!) to fit with the serious Basic Channel disciples.
The final pair of tracks are about as trance as techno could ever sound in this day and age, and in some circles, techno's been sounding quite trance indeed. Lunatic Runner has the peppy pace, the building arps, and the atmosphere to spare, while some chap named Noraus gives Strange Dream a dubby, trancey rub of his own.
For a talented guy who probably got lost in the shuffle of annual psy-chill releases, I'm glad to hear Cosmic Replicant taking on styles well outside the genre's wheel-house. Yeah, another Nature Of Life would have been nice, but it takes something more to stand out in that overstuffed scene. I only fear an album like Processes may leave Cosmic Replicant without a willing home to nurture such musical ventures.
Normally I'd prefer a little space between reviews of the same artist, but Cosmic Replicant has proven so diverse, I'm practically covering someone different with each album. Like, just from an ear-glance, you'd never have guessed the music on Processes came from the same chap who made Future Memories or Soul Of The Universe. You might have made the connection based off of Landscapes Motion, and perhaps, if you squinted in the right direction, Mission Infinity. Surely little that was released through Altar Records though. Honestly, I'm not surprised Pavel's gone the independent route, the music he's releasing of late hardly gelling with traditional psy-chill prints, but likely not finding much footing with labels outside that field either. Or who knows, maybe one of his pure ambient outings might find a re-issue on Carpe Sonum Records. They don't all have to be Fax+ alum to appear on that label, do they?
Where does that leave Processes though? What label might be willing to give this seven track album a little more shine beyond the Cosmic Replicant contingent (we small few but proud). I feel super-cheeky in suggesting this, but perhaps... Kompakt? Or baring that, maybe... Music Man Records? I'm getting a real neo-trance vibe from these tracks, techno that is rather deep, with subtle building layers of melody. Tunes that wouldn't sound out of place in a set shared with the likes of The Field or Petar Dundov, is what I'm saying.
Okay, not so much the first couple tracks, more following on the dub techno explorations Pavel first ventured with in Landscapes Motion. Hypno Snake treads a little into Detroit's pastures, while Ants In My Computer does the droning minimal thing with peculating sounds that would fit snuggly in on one of Luke Slater's Planetary Assault Systems records.
Those are mere warm-ups though, Factory Processes getting in on that lengthy, loopy melodic techno stylee that's made neo-trance a maybe kinda' sorta' thing with the above-mentioned producers; Silent Season too, at their more upbeat moments. Mirror Cube and Morning Robots try to get back to the proper dub techno vibe, but even they're too chipper and melodic (them sparse bell tones!) to fit with the serious Basic Channel disciples.
The final pair of tracks are about as trance as techno could ever sound in this day and age, and in some circles, techno's been sounding quite trance indeed. Lunatic Runner has the peppy pace, the building arps, and the atmosphere to spare, while some chap named Noraus gives Strange Dream a dubby, trancey rub of his own.
For a talented guy who probably got lost in the shuffle of annual psy-chill releases, I'm glad to hear Cosmic Replicant taking on styles well outside the genre's wheel-house. Yeah, another Nature Of Life would have been nice, but it takes something more to stand out in that overstuffed scene. I only fear an album like Processes may leave Cosmic Replicant without a willing home to nurture such musical ventures.
Monday, July 1, 2019
ACE TRACKS: June 2019
So apparently all the original Final Fantasy soundtracks have made their way to Spotify. That's... really f'n awesome! Along with Dragon Quest, that franchise has been responsible for some of my all-time favourite video game scores, to such a degree I went out of my way to actually import Final Fantasy VII direct from Japan. Back in the '90s. From the internet. When I was still a teenager. Okay, technically it was my dad that put his credit card into the wild west of the old web, and was he ever questioning my birthday request back when, believe you me. Hell, I think it had to be ordered from a Japanese retailer, Amazon still barely a thing beyond a massive book store. These were the efforts one[s folks] had to do to get their jRPG vgm fixes. To say nothing of nabbing myself a copy of the holy grail of Final Fantasy scores, Final Fantasy VI. Oh, there was an ad for it in the SNES package (along with Secret Of Mana), three CDs of peak 16-bit musical perfection, but no way I'd get to snag me a copy of that along the way (much less pay an over-inflated collector's market import price).
But now they're all available on Spotify for me to enjoy to my heart's content. Not to mention update my Ultimate Master List with the appropriate tracks, no longer needing to rely on 'Local Files' for the task. Though it's funny that of all the scores I've checked out, it's the thirty-second loops of Final Fantasy I I've probably indulged the most now. Meanwhile, here's the ACE TRACKS for June 2019:
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Hed Kandi The Mix: Summer 2004
Anatolya - Mirror Messages
SiJ - The Lost World
B°TONG - The Long Journey
Curve - Cuckoo
Sghor - Le Grand Mystère
Specta Ciera & The Circular Ruins - Mnemosyne
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nothing at all. Unless the concept of 'contemporary trance' throws you for a loop.
Compared to the cluster-foo that was last month's playlist, this one is remarkably consistent throughout. Probably helps everything comes in nice little chunks, a little house or techno/trance followed by some downtime, then moving back to the uptempo stuff. Probably also helps that the huge amount of ambient I did cover last month just wasn't available in Spotify. Makes for a shorter playlist (under three hours), but eh, as GZA once said: “Half short, twice strong.”
But now they're all available on Spotify for me to enjoy to my heart's content. Not to mention update my Ultimate Master List with the appropriate tracks, no longer needing to rely on 'Local Files' for the task. Though it's funny that of all the scores I've checked out, it's the thirty-second loops of Final Fantasy I I've probably indulged the most now. Meanwhile, here's the ACE TRACKS for June 2019:
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Hed Kandi The Mix: Summer 2004
Anatolya - Mirror Messages
SiJ - The Lost World
B°TONG - The Long Journey
Curve - Cuckoo
Sghor - Le Grand Mystère
Specta Ciera & The Circular Ruins - Mnemosyne
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nothing at all. Unless the concept of 'contemporary trance' throws you for a loop.
Compared to the cluster-foo that was last month's playlist, this one is remarkably consistent throughout. Probably helps everything comes in nice little chunks, a little house or techno/trance followed by some downtime, then moving back to the uptempo stuff. Probably also helps that the huge amount of ambient I did cover last month just wasn't available in Spotify. Makes for a shorter playlist (under three hours), but eh, as GZA once said: “Half short, twice strong.”
Friday, June 7, 2019
Various - Kulør 001
Kulør: 2018
I've argued 'real' trance never went away, just rebranded itself as something else and kept to small secluded corners of techno's domain. Lately, it seems those who wanted to make trance but couldn't admit to making trance because of the Dutch's handling of the tag have slowly re-emerged from the recesses of club culture, prominent critically-approved DJs rinsing out the odd throwback tune here and there. It's gotten to the point where a label can make honest-to-God vintage trance music and have music journalist sorts sing its praises for accomplishing all the things it peaked out on by the year 1995. Ah, the dependable Twenty-Year retro cycle never fails.
I know, I know. Why be cynical when I should be celebrating a release like Kulør 001? Surely I've been waiting for a release such as this since the turn of the century. I guess, kinda'? It's not like I've run out of old school trance music to unearth. Truth be told, aside from a few labels that could do no wrong, a great deal of it was rightly left in the '90s, a sound that had creatively done almost all that it might. Then again, dub techno perseveres to this day, and ain't much variation in that genre's sound over the decades. Ambient too, if we're being honest. Okay, so classic trance could have maintained something for itself if enough willing, inventive producers indulged in it. The clubbing climate just wasn't there for it though, and when eurotrance stole the name for itself, that was about all she wrote for the hypnotic spacey offshoot of EBM and techno.
But as mentioned, retro's undeniable pull can reach back to any ol' sound and make it fresh and hot again, which is what I'm sure this upstart new label out of Denmark is counting on. Hey, I liked the Danes' take on trance, always finding a sweet middle ground between German class and Dutch cheese. And that's what I get out of Kulør's launching compilation, Kulør 001. Ooh, triple-digits compilation numbering. Mighty ambitious aspirations there, just like In Trance In Trust. I wonder what that label's been up to...
Just in case you were wondering (worried?) this would be a complete retro love-in, the beats throughout this compilation are as tough as modern techno can get. Nay, it's all about those melodies, such light uplifting ditties that'll have you reminiscing early '90s Paul van Dyk. And gosh, there's some high BPMs here too, a proper reminder of when trance music was made to fuel your speedy E' benders, rather than hop in one spot under a ketamine daze. Mind, some of these wouldn't be much more than filler on an old Rave Mission collection, but they trigger the nostalgia endorphins just the same. If such tunes remain too cheesy for you though, there's some proper faceless techno bosh on Kulør 001 as well. Guess classic trance still needs a little more time before a full return is embraced.
I've argued 'real' trance never went away, just rebranded itself as something else and kept to small secluded corners of techno's domain. Lately, it seems those who wanted to make trance but couldn't admit to making trance because of the Dutch's handling of the tag have slowly re-emerged from the recesses of club culture, prominent critically-approved DJs rinsing out the odd throwback tune here and there. It's gotten to the point where a label can make honest-to-God vintage trance music and have music journalist sorts sing its praises for accomplishing all the things it peaked out on by the year 1995. Ah, the dependable Twenty-Year retro cycle never fails.
I know, I know. Why be cynical when I should be celebrating a release like Kulør 001? Surely I've been waiting for a release such as this since the turn of the century. I guess, kinda'? It's not like I've run out of old school trance music to unearth. Truth be told, aside from a few labels that could do no wrong, a great deal of it was rightly left in the '90s, a sound that had creatively done almost all that it might. Then again, dub techno perseveres to this day, and ain't much variation in that genre's sound over the decades. Ambient too, if we're being honest. Okay, so classic trance could have maintained something for itself if enough willing, inventive producers indulged in it. The clubbing climate just wasn't there for it though, and when eurotrance stole the name for itself, that was about all she wrote for the hypnotic spacey offshoot of EBM and techno.
But as mentioned, retro's undeniable pull can reach back to any ol' sound and make it fresh and hot again, which is what I'm sure this upstart new label out of Denmark is counting on. Hey, I liked the Danes' take on trance, always finding a sweet middle ground between German class and Dutch cheese. And that's what I get out of Kulør's launching compilation, Kulør 001. Ooh, triple-digits compilation numbering. Mighty ambitious aspirations there, just like In Trance In Trust. I wonder what that label's been up to...
Just in case you were wondering (worried?) this would be a complete retro love-in, the beats throughout this compilation are as tough as modern techno can get. Nay, it's all about those melodies, such light uplifting ditties that'll have you reminiscing early '90s Paul van Dyk. And gosh, there's some high BPMs here too, a proper reminder of when trance music was made to fuel your speedy E' benders, rather than hop in one spot under a ketamine daze. Mind, some of these wouldn't be much more than filler on an old Rave Mission collection, but they trigger the nostalgia endorphins just the same. If such tunes remain too cheesy for you though, there's some proper faceless techno bosh on Kulør 001 as well. Guess classic trance still needs a little more time before a full return is embraced.
Monday, April 22, 2019
The Field - The Follower
Kompakt: 2016
There's things worth talking about in The Field's fifth album The Follower. Things like “Axel Willner moves on from shoegaze, does proper techno” and “haha, I'm still dodging his Very Important Album, aren't I?”. I did something this past weekend, however, that's made talking about anything else extremely difficult. It wasn't even my fault! I had no idea it would or could happen. Nor is The Field at fault either – just unfortunate timing in this particular item cropping up in my queue when it did. I suspect if I don't write something about this event, however, it will fester even longer, somehow blocking my ability to connect fingers to keyboard. So I must do what I must do to move forward. I urge you all to skip the next paragraph, and rejoin me in the following one for my real review of The Field's The Follower.
So I went to a tech-house night on the weekend, as the dude who promoted the party said good things about the Berlin DJ he was bringing in. He always says good things about the Berlin DJs he brings in, but I was bored so went anyway. There I stood at my usual hunch just to the side of the front of the crowd, people watching while bobbing my head as I drank my pale ale in a can. Some decent deep-tech kept the vibe going, though nothing out of the ordinary, much less nabbing my attention in one of those “WHAT IS THIS!?” moments. Then, I heard it. A tinny, spacey rhythm, slightly off time, like out of the Golden Era of space disco. No, wait, it is from the Golden Era of space disco! Is it..? Yes, there it is, the cosmic 'aahhs', the triumphant organ refrain, and the hilariously warbly, ripped from pulp sci-fi pitched-down vocoder announcing the arrival of The Ultimate Warlord! Oh my God, I never thought I'd hear this tune out live, much less at a tech-house night. Do any of these people in the crowd know this track? They sure do now! Dammit though, that perfect context burned the song into my brain as it never had before. How can poor Axel Willner compete with such perfect Canadian disco cheese?
*whew* Okay, got that out of my system. The Follower, then.
The titular opener features some cool acid work from The Field before easing us into his usual brand of ultra-loopy tranced-out flow, where most of the album follows suite. Soft Streams and Raise The Dead get deeper in the dub techno zone, with the former a more abrasive than the latter. We all gotta' mellow out at the end though, which The Field does for the fourteen-minute closer Reflecting Lights. Another solid outing from Mr. Willner, then, and a definite have for those who prefer The Field's more techno outings. Unfortunately though, there's not much else to say about it, especially when one has The Ultimate Warlord imposing his Sword Of Light upon ye'.
There's things worth talking about in The Field's fifth album The Follower. Things like “Axel Willner moves on from shoegaze, does proper techno” and “haha, I'm still dodging his Very Important Album, aren't I?”. I did something this past weekend, however, that's made talking about anything else extremely difficult. It wasn't even my fault! I had no idea it would or could happen. Nor is The Field at fault either – just unfortunate timing in this particular item cropping up in my queue when it did. I suspect if I don't write something about this event, however, it will fester even longer, somehow blocking my ability to connect fingers to keyboard. So I must do what I must do to move forward. I urge you all to skip the next paragraph, and rejoin me in the following one for my real review of The Field's The Follower.
So I went to a tech-house night on the weekend, as the dude who promoted the party said good things about the Berlin DJ he was bringing in. He always says good things about the Berlin DJs he brings in, but I was bored so went anyway. There I stood at my usual hunch just to the side of the front of the crowd, people watching while bobbing my head as I drank my pale ale in a can. Some decent deep-tech kept the vibe going, though nothing out of the ordinary, much less nabbing my attention in one of those “WHAT IS THIS!?” moments. Then, I heard it. A tinny, spacey rhythm, slightly off time, like out of the Golden Era of space disco. No, wait, it is from the Golden Era of space disco! Is it..? Yes, there it is, the cosmic 'aahhs', the triumphant organ refrain, and the hilariously warbly, ripped from pulp sci-fi pitched-down vocoder announcing the arrival of The Ultimate Warlord! Oh my God, I never thought I'd hear this tune out live, much less at a tech-house night. Do any of these people in the crowd know this track? They sure do now! Dammit though, that perfect context burned the song into my brain as it never had before. How can poor Axel Willner compete with such perfect Canadian disco cheese?
*whew* Okay, got that out of my system. The Follower, then.
The titular opener features some cool acid work from The Field before easing us into his usual brand of ultra-loopy tranced-out flow, where most of the album follows suite. Soft Streams and Raise The Dead get deeper in the dub techno zone, with the former a more abrasive than the latter. We all gotta' mellow out at the end though, which The Field does for the fourteen-minute closer Reflecting Lights. Another solid outing from Mr. Willner, then, and a definite have for those who prefer The Field's more techno outings. Unfortunately though, there's not much else to say about it, especially when one has The Ultimate Warlord imposing his Sword Of Light upon ye'.
Monday, April 1, 2019
ACE TRACKS: March 2019
I feel like I'm gonna' be taking more of those 'week long' breaks in the future. Not so much to stave of potential burn-out, but with a regular work schedule that's pushed my 'wake-up' time to no later than 3am now, it makes finding prime writing time tricky. Wasn't so bad when it was still dark out at 6pm, and I could hit the hay plenty early, thus waking up super-duper earlier to write before work. Now that the days grow longer though, and our government has forced an extra hour of evening daylight upon us (still working on my “Keep Noon Sun At Noon Position” protest sign), I'm finding getting that Prime Writing Time ever more elusive. Sometimes I can do it late afternoon, but not too late, otherwise the sun hits my pad on the downswing, and the mugginess makes thinking words difficult as all hell. And I can't just go to bed early 'cause, well, too bright out. It's taking some adjusting to find the right groove again, but it shall be done, oh yes, it shall be done. I hope.
That ramble out of the way, here's some ACE TRACKS for the month of March in this cold year of Two Thousand Nineteen.
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Axs - Arctic Circle
Autumn Of Communion - Autumn Of Communion 5
Autumn Of Communion - Autumn Of Communion 6
Various - Audioworks Various Artists V1
Various - Fade Records Presents: Audiotour - Chris Fortier
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 15%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Any of the Tristan tracks, but only if you glance at the cover art.
A nice mix of music on here. Some uptempo stuff, some downtempo stuff, some leftfield stuff, and some conventional stuff. Only thing really missing is the rock representation, but glancing at my current queue, it's gonna' be a long while indeed before the ol' six-stringer makes a prominent appearance again.
That ramble out of the way, here's some ACE TRACKS for the month of March in this cold year of Two Thousand Nineteen.
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Axs - Arctic Circle
Autumn Of Communion - Autumn Of Communion 5
Autumn Of Communion - Autumn Of Communion 6
Various - Audioworks Various Artists V1
Various - Fade Records Presents: Audiotour - Chris Fortier
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 15%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Any of the Tristan tracks, but only if you glance at the cover art.
A nice mix of music on here. Some uptempo stuff, some downtempo stuff, some leftfield stuff, and some conventional stuff. Only thing really missing is the rock representation, but glancing at my current queue, it's gonna' be a long while indeed before the ol' six-stringer makes a prominent appearance again.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
ACE TRACKS: December 2018
Well, that was a disappointing year. Oh, I'm not talking about all that other stuff, though it wasn't any sunshine either. Not that I was surprised by much of it, that Gen-X upbringing bracing myself for all manner of nihilistic developments as history unfolds. Still, there were little signs and portents that maybe, just maybe, things will turn around.
But no, I'm talking about on a personal front, specifically with regards to this blog. The Year 2018 saw my lowest output yet (again!), which is crazy considering I probably bought more music than ever before. It's like, in getting so many new items, I just don't have the time to digest them, taking me longer to form cohesive thoughts and opinions before committing them from fingers to keyboard. On the other hand, I did actually finish my initial goal of listening to everything I have in alphabetical order, so there's that to be proud of. Already feels like an age ago though. Also, since I'm now dedicating one day per week to Patreon-exclusive reviews, that has cut a tad back on content here. Maybe I ought to re-upload those Patreon posts here, after a month of time has passed from their posting? Maybe...
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Aeon Nemesis
Supercar - Highvision
Aquasky - Aftershock
Various - Alien Dust 1
TUU - All Our Ancestors
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 16%
Most “WTF?” Track: Igorrr is as wonky as it gets, though compared to some of the other offerings off that album...
Gosh, what an enjoyable playlist this month turned out. Like, it's already chock full of choice tunes, but even some of the pairings are fun. For instance, going from the faux-live antics of Scooter, to the proper-live antics of Daft Punk, what a contrast! Then you got peppy synth pop, classy progressive house, thoughtful ambient techno, nifty psy-chill, assorted miscellaneous stuff keeping things diverse, and a dash of rock AND roll for spicy flavor. Gonna' make sure this one makes the list of ACE Ace Tracks Playlists!
But no, I'm talking about on a personal front, specifically with regards to this blog. The Year 2018 saw my lowest output yet (again!), which is crazy considering I probably bought more music than ever before. It's like, in getting so many new items, I just don't have the time to digest them, taking me longer to form cohesive thoughts and opinions before committing them from fingers to keyboard. On the other hand, I did actually finish my initial goal of listening to everything I have in alphabetical order, so there's that to be proud of. Already feels like an age ago though. Also, since I'm now dedicating one day per week to Patreon-exclusive reviews, that has cut a tad back on content here. Maybe I ought to re-upload those Patreon posts here, after a month of time has passed from their posting? Maybe...
Full track list here.
MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Aeon Nemesis
Supercar - Highvision
Aquasky - Aftershock
Various - Alien Dust 1
TUU - All Our Ancestors
Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 16%
Most “WTF?” Track: Igorrr is as wonky as it gets, though compared to some of the other offerings off that album...
Gosh, what an enjoyable playlist this month turned out. Like, it's already chock full of choice tunes, but even some of the pairings are fun. For instance, going from the faux-live antics of Scooter, to the proper-live antics of Daft Punk, what a contrast! Then you got peppy synth pop, classy progressive house, thoughtful ambient techno, nifty psy-chill, assorted miscellaneous stuff keeping things diverse, and a dash of rock AND roll for spicy flavor. Gonna' make sure this one makes the list of ACE Ace Tracks Playlists!
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Scooter - Age Of Love (Original TC Review)
Club Tools: 1997
(2018 Update:
My head tells me I should hate this. My gut tells me it. Heck, even my heart tells me it. Yet, there's something that always keeps me from hating this album like I'm told I'm supposed to. Some overpowering feels from the spleen? Like, I don't go out of my way to play this often, maybe once every few years, save a chance random encounter on my media player's shuffle option, but when it does play, I still get into it just the same. I think this album releases the same stoopid-fun endorphins tracks like Sash!'s Ecuador does, and there's nothing wrong with that. We all have our silly little pleasures within our musical tastes, and if you don't, then I imagine you're just a dreadful bore to be around.
As for how Scooter's career went after I wrote this review, the group jumped on the dubstep bandwagon. Of course they would.)
IN BRIEF: Scooter’s turning point.
As vehemently as they’ll deny it, it’s safe to say a lot of EDM’s followers went through a Scooter phase. For some it may have been a brief flirtation during their initial rave years, others a lingering dedication. However long it was though, the reasons for it tend to be the same: the group made some undeniably fun anthems.
Ah, you’ve noticed the use of past tense. I suppose I should explain. Y’see, friends, Scooter’s discography can easily be split into two eras, each with a number of name variations. For example: Bueller years/post-Bueller years; pre-excessive covers/post-excessive covers; pre-shit/shit. Whatever you call it, Scooter’s initial mid-90s output was a guilty pleasure for many. That all changed when Ferris Bueller (aka: Sören Bühler, H.P.'s cousin) left and the group and began relying more on covers rather than original productions for their hit singles. Accusations of ‘sell-out’ and ‘going to Hell in a cheese basket’ dominated many discussions, and Scooter became the target of every biting punch-line regarding the worst aspects of commercialized dance. They may not have much artistic credibility left, but who cares about that when you can fight with Cascada for top spot on the dance charts, eh?
Anyhow, a change of direction often has a catalyst, and their album Age Of Love certainly was that. Beyond the fact this was the last Bueller album, there’s a sense Scooter were aiming for larger audiences than their initial happy hardcore fanbase, and why not? This was 1997 here, folks, when everyone figured they just might have a chance at hitting the big time. So how does one go about doing so?
First, out goes the hardcore and in comes more of the trance; nearly half the album is dedicated to the popular club style of the era that wasn't too different from most euro-dance (re: pre-epic). Next, branch out into other genres that are garnering attention from the masses: big beat, jungle, rock hybrids -‘electronica’, in other words. And finally, have one of your singles feature on a major motion picture to grab that always lucrative non-electronic consumer. Perfect formula for success, right? Um...
Alright, the big single here, Fire, certainly did succeed in its aim. Aside from the fact it is a decent bit of hard dance fun, by featuring on sequel soundtracks to Mortal Kombat and Hackers, Scooter got to rub elbows with respected names like Leftfield, The Prodigy, and Juno Reactor. Along the way, the thrashin’ guitar riffs grabbed the approving attention of many metal-heads. I’d commonly hear “fuck, that fucking techno shit is fucking shit, but Fire’s alright” from long-haired associates.
Then there’s The Age Of Love. I’ve heard it called corny, cheesy, and a complete rip-off of the Terminator theme; in trying to combine the sounds of trance with the effusive sentimentality of happy hardcore, Scooter created a disgrace of a tune. Oh shut up. Yes, it is all those things. That’s exactly the point! It’s what Scooter did so well in those days: pure, guilt-free anthemic fun. This is ‘stadium techno’ as The KLF spearheaded, and The Age Of Love is just as effective as anything they did.
The rest of the album mostly amounts to agreeable filler. There really isn’t anything that is whole-sale awful, but nor does it leap out at you as essential either. Hit The Drum stands out a bit more by getting back to a ‘stadium techno’ sound, and includes one of H.P.’s more ridiculous lines: “‘Cause we are ready to shake the nation with another creation!” Also, Tonight’s take on ol’ school jungle and Return Of The Future’s standard trance execution are intriguingly entertaining, mostly for the fact they veer so far off the expected Scooter path; if you didn’t know better, you’d swear they were by another act. However, these examples didn’t win over their detractors then, and they certainly won’t today either.
Still, Age Of Love is probably one of the better albums in Scooter’s discography. Even when the songs are little more than simple dance pop, they present them with such infectious zesty energy it is hard to resist, provided you leave the Bitter Beer in the cooler before listening. If you are quite new to this whole electronic music thing, you could do worse (like Scooter’s recent offerings). And even if you aren’t, Age Of Love still has a bit of charm for those moments when you just need a reason to get up and shout. Nothing wrong with that, now is there?
ACE TRA-
Oh, wait. There’s one more track here. A cover of a Depeche Mode song. Hold on... *plays the ballad Leave In Silence*
I take it all back. Scooter are shit.
Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved
(2018 Update:
My head tells me I should hate this. My gut tells me it. Heck, even my heart tells me it. Yet, there's something that always keeps me from hating this album like I'm told I'm supposed to. Some overpowering feels from the spleen? Like, I don't go out of my way to play this often, maybe once every few years, save a chance random encounter on my media player's shuffle option, but when it does play, I still get into it just the same. I think this album releases the same stoopid-fun endorphins tracks like Sash!'s Ecuador does, and there's nothing wrong with that. We all have our silly little pleasures within our musical tastes, and if you don't, then I imagine you're just a dreadful bore to be around.
As for how Scooter's career went after I wrote this review, the group jumped on the dubstep bandwagon. Of course they would.)
IN BRIEF: Scooter’s turning point.
As vehemently as they’ll deny it, it’s safe to say a lot of EDM’s followers went through a Scooter phase. For some it may have been a brief flirtation during their initial rave years, others a lingering dedication. However long it was though, the reasons for it tend to be the same: the group made some undeniably fun anthems.
Ah, you’ve noticed the use of past tense. I suppose I should explain. Y’see, friends, Scooter’s discography can easily be split into two eras, each with a number of name variations. For example: Bueller years/post-Bueller years; pre-excessive covers/post-excessive covers; pre-shit/shit. Whatever you call it, Scooter’s initial mid-90s output was a guilty pleasure for many. That all changed when Ferris Bueller (aka: Sören Bühler, H.P.'s cousin) left and the group and began relying more on covers rather than original productions for their hit singles. Accusations of ‘sell-out’ and ‘going to Hell in a cheese basket’ dominated many discussions, and Scooter became the target of every biting punch-line regarding the worst aspects of commercialized dance. They may not have much artistic credibility left, but who cares about that when you can fight with Cascada for top spot on the dance charts, eh?
Anyhow, a change of direction often has a catalyst, and their album Age Of Love certainly was that. Beyond the fact this was the last Bueller album, there’s a sense Scooter were aiming for larger audiences than their initial happy hardcore fanbase, and why not? This was 1997 here, folks, when everyone figured they just might have a chance at hitting the big time. So how does one go about doing so?
First, out goes the hardcore and in comes more of the trance; nearly half the album is dedicated to the popular club style of the era that wasn't too different from most euro-dance (re: pre-epic). Next, branch out into other genres that are garnering attention from the masses: big beat, jungle, rock hybrids -‘electronica’, in other words. And finally, have one of your singles feature on a major motion picture to grab that always lucrative non-electronic consumer. Perfect formula for success, right? Um...
Alright, the big single here, Fire, certainly did succeed in its aim. Aside from the fact it is a decent bit of hard dance fun, by featuring on sequel soundtracks to Mortal Kombat and Hackers, Scooter got to rub elbows with respected names like Leftfield, The Prodigy, and Juno Reactor. Along the way, the thrashin’ guitar riffs grabbed the approving attention of many metal-heads. I’d commonly hear “fuck, that fucking techno shit is fucking shit, but Fire’s alright” from long-haired associates.
Then there’s The Age Of Love. I’ve heard it called corny, cheesy, and a complete rip-off of the Terminator theme; in trying to combine the sounds of trance with the effusive sentimentality of happy hardcore, Scooter created a disgrace of a tune. Oh shut up. Yes, it is all those things. That’s exactly the point! It’s what Scooter did so well in those days: pure, guilt-free anthemic fun. This is ‘stadium techno’ as The KLF spearheaded, and The Age Of Love is just as effective as anything they did.
The rest of the album mostly amounts to agreeable filler. There really isn’t anything that is whole-sale awful, but nor does it leap out at you as essential either. Hit The Drum stands out a bit more by getting back to a ‘stadium techno’ sound, and includes one of H.P.’s more ridiculous lines: “‘Cause we are ready to shake the nation with another creation!” Also, Tonight’s take on ol’ school jungle and Return Of The Future’s standard trance execution are intriguingly entertaining, mostly for the fact they veer so far off the expected Scooter path; if you didn’t know better, you’d swear they were by another act. However, these examples didn’t win over their detractors then, and they certainly won’t today either.
Still, Age Of Love is probably one of the better albums in Scooter’s discography. Even when the songs are little more than simple dance pop, they present them with such infectious zesty energy it is hard to resist, provided you leave the Bitter Beer in the cooler before listening. If you are quite new to this whole electronic music thing, you could do worse (like Scooter’s recent offerings). And even if you aren’t, Age Of Love still has a bit of charm for those moments when you just need a reason to get up and shout. Nothing wrong with that, now is there?
ACE TRA-
Oh, wait. There’s one more track here. A cover of a Depeche Mode song. Hold on... *plays the ballad Leave In Silence*
I take it all back. Scooter are shit.
Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Sven Väth - Accident In Paradise
Eye Q Records: 1992
Only Sven Väth could make a 'solo' debut such as this and get away with it. Like could you imagine a man in the 2000s behind Very Serious minimal techno parties in Ibiza creating something as daft as a flute and harpsichord Coda? Not bloody likely – unless, of course, you are Sven Väth, a chap who probably hasn't a clue where his inspiration will take him. He just goes with it as he feels it. And my mind boggles of what it must have been like to hear Accident In Paradise when it was fresh and new, a collection of highfalutin artistry from the dude behind the legendary OMEN nightclub, and who's previous major musical output consisted of singing with the boys behind Snap!
In officially putting his name on an actual record though, I'm sure the young Väth had a ton of ideas floating about his head, many of which inspired by the raving lunatics he saw emerging in Frankfurt's nascent clubbing scene. The freaks were coming out in full force, uninhibited by the looming threat of crushing communism while getting knackered on really good drugs. It must have looked like a carnival of world-wide cultures, all meeting at a European crossroads, where tribal spiritualists could intermingle within aristocratic chambers. So many ideas, so many influences, how can one interpret them within the confines of dance album? Probably you don't, but that didn't stop Sven from at least trying.
Fortunately, Mr. Väth had a secret weapon at his disposal, helping him curate his ideas into something presentable. Okay, Ralf Hildenbeutel wasn't that much of a secret, the man already instrumental in producing many of Eye Q Records' early singles. He and Väth even released a collaborative album earlier that year as Barbarella, a more straight-forward techno LP. Having gotten what was 'expected' of them out, they were free to indulge in whatever fit their fancy in a proper artist record. Just make sure that lead single's a stompin' acid techno cut though – don't want to scare the punters off before they buy the album.
Accident In Paradise is, if nothing else, an ambitious LP that almost comes together as Sven and Ralf envisioned. Heavily front-loaded, the opening salvo of tribal-trancer Ritual Of Life, sweeping ambience of Caravan Of Emotions, and blissy Balearic vibes of L'Esperanza eats thirty-five minutes of the album, more than half its runtime. It can't help but go down from there, and they don't even try reaching that lofty peak again, the back half of Accident In Paradise mostly taken up by interstitial musical doodles of Renaissance dalliances. Even Mellow Illusion, a groovy, nine-minute old-school trancer, comes off humble and ordinary in this album's context. Re-issues added the radio version of L'Esperanza, giving you reason to keep the album playing through, if you're willing to sit through Sven and Ralf's psychedelic carnival ride getting there. I give them props for including such daft tunes like Merry-Go-Round Somewhere, but like most, I usually tap out after Mellow Illusion.
Only Sven Väth could make a 'solo' debut such as this and get away with it. Like could you imagine a man in the 2000s behind Very Serious minimal techno parties in Ibiza creating something as daft as a flute and harpsichord Coda? Not bloody likely – unless, of course, you are Sven Väth, a chap who probably hasn't a clue where his inspiration will take him. He just goes with it as he feels it. And my mind boggles of what it must have been like to hear Accident In Paradise when it was fresh and new, a collection of highfalutin artistry from the dude behind the legendary OMEN nightclub, and who's previous major musical output consisted of singing with the boys behind Snap!
In officially putting his name on an actual record though, I'm sure the young Väth had a ton of ideas floating about his head, many of which inspired by the raving lunatics he saw emerging in Frankfurt's nascent clubbing scene. The freaks were coming out in full force, uninhibited by the looming threat of crushing communism while getting knackered on really good drugs. It must have looked like a carnival of world-wide cultures, all meeting at a European crossroads, where tribal spiritualists could intermingle within aristocratic chambers. So many ideas, so many influences, how can one interpret them within the confines of dance album? Probably you don't, but that didn't stop Sven from at least trying.
Fortunately, Mr. Väth had a secret weapon at his disposal, helping him curate his ideas into something presentable. Okay, Ralf Hildenbeutel wasn't that much of a secret, the man already instrumental in producing many of Eye Q Records' early singles. He and Väth even released a collaborative album earlier that year as Barbarella, a more straight-forward techno LP. Having gotten what was 'expected' of them out, they were free to indulge in whatever fit their fancy in a proper artist record. Just make sure that lead single's a stompin' acid techno cut though – don't want to scare the punters off before they buy the album.
Accident In Paradise is, if nothing else, an ambitious LP that almost comes together as Sven and Ralf envisioned. Heavily front-loaded, the opening salvo of tribal-trancer Ritual Of Life, sweeping ambience of Caravan Of Emotions, and blissy Balearic vibes of L'Esperanza eats thirty-five minutes of the album, more than half its runtime. It can't help but go down from there, and they don't even try reaching that lofty peak again, the back half of Accident In Paradise mostly taken up by interstitial musical doodles of Renaissance dalliances. Even Mellow Illusion, a groovy, nine-minute old-school trancer, comes off humble and ordinary in this album's context. Re-issues added the radio version of L'Esperanza, giving you reason to keep the album playing through, if you're willing to sit through Sven and Ralf's psychedelic carnival ride getting there. I give them props for including such daft tunes like Merry-Go-Round Somewhere, but like most, I usually tap out after Mellow Illusion.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Etnica - The Juggeling Alchemists Under The Black Light
High Society/DAT Records: 1995/2018
No, seriously, is there a better time to be a music fan than this past half-decade? Like, beyond just the unprecedented abundance of selection, even old, obscure stuff is now frequently unearthed and reissued in ultra-deluxe collector's packages. I've always wanted to pick up an Etnica album, one of the O.G. goa trance acts that lured me into the genre's weird, twisted sonic possibilities. Alien Protein was the obvious choice, released on the familiar print Blue Room Released – be easiest to find, is what I'm sayin' (plus, Party Droid!). I never considered their debut album, released on the far smaller label High Society, an item almost certainly lost to the dustbins of an overpriced collector's market. Not only has DAT Records rescued The Juggling Alchemists Under The Black Light from such a fate, but included a second CD of assorted remixes and single material from the same period of Etnica's career. And then they convinced the band to unleash a pile of unreleased early works for a third disc of material. Dang, son, I would have been satisfied just with a standard re-issue, but all that and chicken soup too?
Describing exactly what makes Etnica click in such a way that so few other psy trance acts do is difficult to detail. Yeah, they have just as much wiggly noises and squiggly sounds as any other act of the era, but there's something uniquely identifiable about their particular method. They have just as much freeform songcraft as other respected acts of the era like Kox Box, but always show enough restraint in not getting lost in random, go-nowhere tangents. There's the obligatory goa tonal scales, but it never sounds like Etnica is completely dependant upon them either, trippy tribal trance sounding just as comfortable cruising the cosmos as it does getting crusties flailing about on Indian beaches. And while the original Juggeling Alchemists Under The Black Light album was a tidy seven track outing, all the additional material in this mega-package doesn't dilute the experience in the slightest, Etnica's sound hardly growing stale even as the hours of music pile on. Well, okay, there are a couple quibbles I must point out.
One, due to a mislabeled DAT being sent to DAT, a lone track isn't even an Etnica cut; rather, it's a tune called Alien Phenomenon by another High Society act called Evolution. Whoops. But to make matters worse, this was supposed to be a remix of Party Droid. Aagh! Also, The Early Years disc definitely shows Etnica still in their developmental stage, tracks on there comparatively unpolished when contrasted with the stuff they properly released. It's all serviceable old-school trance, but not terribly different from much of what else was available out there. A fun bonus, then, though when mixed among the wicked-awesome coolio cuts that Etnica started churning out on the regular (as the digital version of this collection does due to alphabetizing the whole playlist) ...yeah, I can hear why they initially sat on it.
No, seriously, is there a better time to be a music fan than this past half-decade? Like, beyond just the unprecedented abundance of selection, even old, obscure stuff is now frequently unearthed and reissued in ultra-deluxe collector's packages. I've always wanted to pick up an Etnica album, one of the O.G. goa trance acts that lured me into the genre's weird, twisted sonic possibilities. Alien Protein was the obvious choice, released on the familiar print Blue Room Released – be easiest to find, is what I'm sayin' (plus, Party Droid!). I never considered their debut album, released on the far smaller label High Society, an item almost certainly lost to the dustbins of an overpriced collector's market. Not only has DAT Records rescued The Juggling Alchemists Under The Black Light from such a fate, but included a second CD of assorted remixes and single material from the same period of Etnica's career. And then they convinced the band to unleash a pile of unreleased early works for a third disc of material. Dang, son, I would have been satisfied just with a standard re-issue, but all that and chicken soup too?
Describing exactly what makes Etnica click in such a way that so few other psy trance acts do is difficult to detail. Yeah, they have just as much wiggly noises and squiggly sounds as any other act of the era, but there's something uniquely identifiable about their particular method. They have just as much freeform songcraft as other respected acts of the era like Kox Box, but always show enough restraint in not getting lost in random, go-nowhere tangents. There's the obligatory goa tonal scales, but it never sounds like Etnica is completely dependant upon them either, trippy tribal trance sounding just as comfortable cruising the cosmos as it does getting crusties flailing about on Indian beaches. And while the original Juggeling Alchemists Under The Black Light album was a tidy seven track outing, all the additional material in this mega-package doesn't dilute the experience in the slightest, Etnica's sound hardly growing stale even as the hours of music pile on. Well, okay, there are a couple quibbles I must point out.
One, due to a mislabeled DAT being sent to DAT, a lone track isn't even an Etnica cut; rather, it's a tune called Alien Phenomenon by another High Society act called Evolution. Whoops. But to make matters worse, this was supposed to be a remix of Party Droid. Aagh! Also, The Early Years disc definitely shows Etnica still in their developmental stage, tracks on there comparatively unpolished when contrasted with the stuff they properly released. It's all serviceable old-school trance, but not terribly different from much of what else was available out there. A fun bonus, then, though when mixed among the wicked-awesome coolio cuts that Etnica started churning out on the regular (as the digital version of this collection does due to alphabetizing the whole playlist) ...yeah, I can hear why they initially sat on it.
Friday, June 22, 2018
L.S.G. - Double Vision
Bonzai Progressive: 2017
Crazy to think it took fifteen years for Oliver Lieb to release a full-length album, and a double-LP at that. Yes, including The Unreleased Album, now officially released on his Solieb Digital print, but first made way back in 2002. Also, there was Inside Voices under his own name with Psychonavigation Records, but since that label hideously collapsed, the album's status is currently in limbo. Double Vision though, there is no doubt. Two CDs full of proper new tunes, released on a print in no danger of disappearing, and under an old reliable alias fans have been hoping a return to for ages. Take all my money, Mr. Lieb!
Still, it requests the question, where does L.S.G. fit in modern clime's? The heart-pumping trance that the moniker built its rep' on hasn't been in vogue for an age, and ol' Oliver hasn't shown any signs of returning to that style. He's well moved on from the minimal techno of Solieb – it was only fashionable for a short while anyway – but his few recent, scattered singles seem uncertain where his lane now is. Melodic techno? Spacey tech-house? Whatever thing Norman Feller's managed to sustain a career on? And is there even a need to keep making club singles anyway? L.S.G. had been trending towards the chill-out camps ever since Into Deep, but would there even be interest in another ambient outing after the lukewarm response to Inside Voices? So many options, so many ideas – ah, just double-album the return, filling all the creative needs!
And as CD1 opens with the grand space ambience of Seven Worlds, melting into a slow-burner with groovy rhythms, sci-fi sounds, and epic synth builds of Escape The Galaxy, all I can think is, “Damn, have I missed L.S.G.!” Oliver's always had a unique touch with rhythm and melody, instantly recognizable and never dull (if a little predictable though, one must admit), and long time fans should feel right at home here, tracks like Vapor and Passion reflecting glories past – even the rhythms take what Lieb learned from his Solieb days, putting it to far greater use. And if you do need some evolution along with his vintage sounds, how about a little psychedelic big-beat bedlam in Tipsy Flower and Perfect Blue? That ought to trigger your Future Sound Of London receptors. Also, Suborbital reminds me of an old, obscure Steve Porter prog cut (Innerpulse), which I have to assume is just a coincidence.
Even though it's the obligatory 'chill' disc, CD1 contains some serious body movin' beats. That can only mean CD2 is gonna' tear things out, right? Eh, it's definitely more upbeat, though still hovering a dozen BPMs lower than Lieb's classic stuff. I also don't find this disc quite as interesting as the first, contemporary 'peak time' tech-trance with vintage Lieb flourishes. It has its moments, but after awhile, I start itching for a little Black Album business. Now that's some mainroom techno that'll scare the kids away!
Crazy to think it took fifteen years for Oliver Lieb to release a full-length album, and a double-LP at that. Yes, including The Unreleased Album, now officially released on his Solieb Digital print, but first made way back in 2002. Also, there was Inside Voices under his own name with Psychonavigation Records, but since that label hideously collapsed, the album's status is currently in limbo. Double Vision though, there is no doubt. Two CDs full of proper new tunes, released on a print in no danger of disappearing, and under an old reliable alias fans have been hoping a return to for ages. Take all my money, Mr. Lieb!
Still, it requests the question, where does L.S.G. fit in modern clime's? The heart-pumping trance that the moniker built its rep' on hasn't been in vogue for an age, and ol' Oliver hasn't shown any signs of returning to that style. He's well moved on from the minimal techno of Solieb – it was only fashionable for a short while anyway – but his few recent, scattered singles seem uncertain where his lane now is. Melodic techno? Spacey tech-house? Whatever thing Norman Feller's managed to sustain a career on? And is there even a need to keep making club singles anyway? L.S.G. had been trending towards the chill-out camps ever since Into Deep, but would there even be interest in another ambient outing after the lukewarm response to Inside Voices? So many options, so many ideas – ah, just double-album the return, filling all the creative needs!
And as CD1 opens with the grand space ambience of Seven Worlds, melting into a slow-burner with groovy rhythms, sci-fi sounds, and epic synth builds of Escape The Galaxy, all I can think is, “Damn, have I missed L.S.G.!” Oliver's always had a unique touch with rhythm and melody, instantly recognizable and never dull (if a little predictable though, one must admit), and long time fans should feel right at home here, tracks like Vapor and Passion reflecting glories past – even the rhythms take what Lieb learned from his Solieb days, putting it to far greater use. And if you do need some evolution along with his vintage sounds, how about a little psychedelic big-beat bedlam in Tipsy Flower and Perfect Blue? That ought to trigger your Future Sound Of London receptors. Also, Suborbital reminds me of an old, obscure Steve Porter prog cut (Innerpulse), which I have to assume is just a coincidence.
Even though it's the obligatory 'chill' disc, CD1 contains some serious body movin' beats. That can only mean CD2 is gonna' tear things out, right? Eh, it's definitely more upbeat, though still hovering a dozen BPMs lower than Lieb's classic stuff. I also don't find this disc quite as interesting as the first, contemporary 'peak time' tech-trance with vintage Lieb flourishes. It has its moments, but after awhile, I start itching for a little Black Album business. Now that's some mainroom techno that'll scare the kids away!
Labels:
2017,
album,
ambient,
Bonzai,
downtempo,
L.S.G.,
Oliver Lieb,
tech-house,
tech-trance,
techno,
trance
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