Just got a very special request from ICOOYSFAN666. Thanks for the kind werds, dude. Of course we have plenty Pee-Wee Herman footage in the Vaults. No Problem.... here's lookin at you KID!
Hey, ICOOYSFAN666 - Make sure to tell your mother I said...
Version Sound, DC's undisputed Dub heavyweight champions have just launched a Tech/House/Classics subsidiary called Version Sound Afterdark. Their sound is geared towards the more mature, diverse and abstract musical mavericks who thrive after 2AM.
This is the debut mix, clocking in at just under an hour and represents the 'late shift' of techno and house music. Please download and spread the link to friends/family.
Got plans for a dope Afterhours party in DC, Baltimore, Philly or NYC? Book us and we'll guarantee a satisfied crowd of post-party goers wherever you let us play. Reply to this post in comments w/ contact info.
This blog has sat dormant for a good few months now, but we still seem to get a ton of traffic and I imagine there are followers of the blog (thanks, btw) who deserve to get some goodness....and goodness is on its way.
We've added a new author to the mix, a peculiar fellow who goes simply by the name "Quail.egg." I trust he will contribute the highest caliber of rare electronica and 'other' styles of music. His collection has a large chunk of records even I have *no clue* what the F that is.
AMP is having kids, and I'm over at Vinyl Vault doing my competitive blog eating thang; come check me out along w/ my new crew of niche music assassins... Vinyl Vault son... Vinyl Vault word!!!
While we appreciate the attention and dedication to our Dub blogspot university, we have in fact ripped nearly our entire music collection (at least the best of it)....
If you love what you see, you should appreciate the East Coast urban background which spawned such a diverse collection....
Instead of posting filler on ICOOYS, I've been spending most my time over @ PHILAVLAVA forum/blogspot recently. These cats have seriously given my 1993-era vibe a new voice and proper representation via their 2 channels:
DC's Version Sound takes a break from the chalice to give you your late summer dub fix. The tracklist here is loaded with dub heavyweights: Aswad, Iration Steppas, Gussie P, Alpha & Omega, Vibronics, and more.
Summer 2008
Tracklist: 1. Aswad - Ways of the Dub (12" B - Dub Version) 2. Iration Steppas feat. Tena Stelin - Locks (Vocal) 3. Iration Steppas - Locks (Dub) 4. Gussie P All Stars meets Mafia & Fluxy - Dub on the Go 5. Aswad - Dub Style (12" B - Dub Version) 6. Reggae On Top All Stars - Calliman Dub 7. Mykal Rose - Bingi Man A Come 8. Mixman Dub Section - Nyah Man Dub 9. Chris Jay - Rowing Dub 10. Alpha & Omega Meets The Disciples - Book of Dub 11. Dubkasm - Elemental Dub 12. Vibronics - Flying Dub 13. Dubkasm Meets The Disciples - Armoured Dub
Yes the proprietors of ICOOYS have taken a short hiatus to take care of family and life stuff, but it seems as if we've still been getting 700+ visits a day so that's fantastic.
We won't be posting stuff nearly as frequently as we used to, but we've got a secret cache of new/old material that we'll be posting at our leisure. Please do enjoy!
This first one was introduced to me by a certain Whalefish after a late late night (ahem) and lets just say the record made a profound impact on me. And it wasn't just due to lack of sleep. It truly is beautiful, emotive electronic music that had somehow slipped under my radar all these years. Co-produced by Plaid, this 2x12" is reminiscent of Warp's Artificial Intelligence-series production with subtle electronics, popping your emotions from left to right like a game of Pong. Love It. FYI - my 2 personal favorite tracks from this first 12" are the 3rd tunes from each side: 'Yip' and 'Il.' Sooooooooooo damn good!
Now Mr. Whalefish had 2 copies of this 2x12", but the one he let me borrow to rip had just the first record in it. So we're swapping that tomorrow night to get the 2nd 12" - I just couldn't wait to post it all at once, so here's the first one....
Normally, I would stay away from such hilarious reviews - but I found one review of this amazing record online - and it looks as if it were written after coming back from a rave or being up way too long. It's not a bad review - it's just really funny to me but still quite expressive and manages to articulate the emotional affect this record has on the listener. Here ya go:
Sean Spencer is +ONE; add his singular synth-compositions with co-production from Plaid and you'll find an enticingly peculiar brand of electronica...
The cheerfully rambling ditties of Bare Necessities are crisp, clean and joyous. Synthesized sunshine illuminates interestingly crooked pathways through a cartoony funland.
Circus-like organ tones are battered by tiny robotic percussion as STICKER evolves into a peppy, happily bouncing entity of warm motes and twangy snippets. Bite into a dancier groove as NIBBLE chews up and spits out bubbling lows, twinkling highs and shapeless drifts, all to tight computerized syncopation. Quirky keyboarding occurs on various levels, all comingling somehow to become bright, blippy YIP.
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+One - Bare Necessities Label - DeFocus Producer - Plaid Written by - +One Released - 2000 Style - AM IDM, Electro
12" #1 Tracklisting: A1 Sticker A2 Nibble A3 Yip B1 Shao B2 Metro B3 Il
Not much I can say about this.... Mecca and the Soul Brother is one of the best albums ever produced. Amazing, amazing productions. These are the instrumentals.
Tracklist: A1 Return Of The Mecca A2 For Pete's Sake A3 Ghetto's Of The Mind A4 Act Like You Know B1 Lots Of Lovin B2 Anger In The Nation B3 They Reminice Over You
Formed 1984, Mount Vernon, New York, Pete Rock (b. Peter Phillips, June 21, 1970, Mount Vernon), C. L. Smooth (b. Corey Penn, Oct. 8, 1968, New Rochelle, NY.), DJ. Pete Rock Aliases: Soul Brother No. 1, Chocolate Boy Wonder, The Creator. CL Smooth Aliases: Carmel King, Mecca Don. Mt. Vernon’s most prolific producer got his start as a deejay for Marley Marl’s “In Control” radio show on New York’s WBLS. His turntable skills led him to produce for various artists. In 1991, Pete was signed to Elektra records with C.L. Smooth and they dropped the now classic EP, All Souled Out. Their first album, Mecca & The Soul Brother, featured a tribute to Trouble T-Roy Dixon (R.I.P.) who was a member of Heavy D & The Boyz. The album also contained ground-breaking beats that mined the crates for horns, snares, and clever interludes.
Pete Rock - Petestrumentals Label - BBE Released - 2001 Style - Dope Beats, Instrumental, Hip-Hop
What can I say? Pete Rock is the man; one of the most prolific producers in the game. These instrumentals are jazzy, quirky, laidback and ultra dope.
Tracklist: 1 A Little Soul 2 Play Dis Only At Night 3 Something Funky 4 For The People 5 Hip Hopcrisy 6 Smooth Sailing 7 Pete's Jazz 8 The Boss 9 Get Involved 10 Give It To Y'all 11 Walk On By 12 Cake 13 What You Waiting For 14 Nothin' Lesser (Jamie's Mix)
Various - Fat Jazzy Grooves Vol. 14 Label - New Breed Released - 1996 Style - Future Jazz, Acid Jazz, Instrumental, Dope Beats, Hip-Hop
Tracklisting: 1 Nutsek - Mood 2 Beats Of San Francisco - Respect 3 Hustletron - Maximizer 4 The Prunes - Rashaan 5 I-Cue - Pass It Around 6 DJ Smash - Kikit
I'm not sure how many of these were actually released, but the Fat Jazzy Grooves series came out on New Breed in the mid-late 90s and they are so so dope. Lots of Downtempo/Future Jazz/Hip-Hop Instrumental beats. My favorite from this bunch is Hustletron's Maximizer because it reminds me of a tweaky Ultramarine groove. Great stuff!
Super big thanks to the Wardmeister for another batch of killa RSW 12" rips!!!
You rule dude.
RSW 2a Biting my Nails (Bassnumb chapter).mp3 Biting my Nails (Instrumental Dub 1988).mp3 Biting my Nails (Soundsystem plays a renegade tune).mp3 Inspiral Carpets - This is how it feels (Drum mix).mp3 Inspiral Carpets - This is how it feels (Robbery mix).mp3 Manphibian.mp3 Mash-Up.mp3 PWEI - Cicciolina (The RSW mix - smoothneck).mp3 RSW Megamix (Lesson 1).mp3
RSW 2b Space Gladiator (dub).mp3 Space Gladiator.mp3 The Phantom (remix).mp3 The Phantom (Turntable Scratch mix).mp3 The Phantom.mp3 Thunder 2.mp3 Women Respond to Bass (12 inch vocal mix).mp3 Women Respond to Bass (Women Respond in Heaven).mp3 Women Respond to Bass (Women Respond to Terror Drums).mp3
In response to the handful of More Rockers requests we received in the past week alone, I have to say their old material is impossible to find! I couldn't find anything really. So I apologize for that, but I did find some great mixes featuring lots of that Bristol Dub/Drum'n'Bass sound, including More Rockers acetates. So that should tide you over until something more substantial comes along...
A bit about Smith & Mighty: The story of SMITH & MIGHTY is closely bound up with the musical history of Bristol, their hometown. For a good decade Rob Smith and Ray Mighty (joined nowadays by third member Peter D. Rose) have featured among sound pioneers like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead and Roni Size who have enjoyed worldwide success. However, despite their huge influence on the 'Sound of Bristol', whereas the aforementioned have been able to celebrate their well-deserved successes, SMITH & MIGHTY have always had to take a back seat due to a plethora of unfavourable circumstances. In spite of some excellent 12" releases and their totally cool debut album 'Bass Is Maternal', an international breakthrough was not foreseeable for the time being. This only changed in 1998, with their self-compiled release for the DJ Kicks series, which firmly put them back on the map and earned them much respect internationally. But let's start at the beginning:
In the mid-eighties a scene arose in the St. Paul's district, based around DJs like Nellee Hooper (later founder of Soul II Soul), Miles Johnson, Grant and Mushroom, who soon dubbed themselves the Wild Bunch, going on to father the 'Sound of Bristol' by blasting a bassy melt-in-your-mouth mix of fusion, dub, reggae, soul and hip hop out of their soundsystems on to the streets of St. Paul's. What was initially played through traditional soundsystems progressed into the production of their own tracks, and the 'Wild Bunch's first recording 'Look of Love' clinched them quite a local hit. Co-producing was a second Bristol team, namely Rob Smith & Ray Mighty, who had established their own soundsystem called '3 Stripe' In 1987 SMITH & MIGHTY released a cover version of Burt Bacharch's 'Anyone (Who Had A Heart)', shortly followed by 'Walk On By' on their label, also dubbed '3 Stripe'. With this brace of tracks and their mellow basslines, soulful vocals and deep arrangements SMITH & MIGHTY had set the precedent for successive releases in the British port. (Such as a certain Massive Attack's debut single 'Any Love', which they produced.)
They were also producers of 'Wishing On A Star' by Fresh Four (a one hit wonder featuring the then 17 year old DJ Krust) at the end of 1989, marking the beginning of a five year odyssey through the lowlands of the (major) music industry. After the huge success of 'Wishing On A Star', record companies began to take an interest in the boys from Bristol. They refused a lucrative offer from Virgin's Richard Branson, commenting 'We just don't like his style, and the way Margaret Thatcher portrayed him as the ideal business mogul. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that we used to be punks" (Ray Mighty). The deal signed with London Records proved to be disastrous. They still went ahead with producing Carlton's album, 'The Call Is Strong', exposing a real source of inspiration, but the record company couldn't handle their visionary downtempo beats when England was obsessed with fast house and techno beats. To this day the album is regarded as the 'great lost album of the Bristol Sound'. Further SMITH & MIGHTY productions were greeted with the same lack of recognition by the record company and mostly weren't even released.
After their deal with the major company had expired, the first album on their own label More Rockers was released in 1995 (a dub version of an LP originally recorded for London Records). Due to woeful distribution, this album only managed to make its way to hard core fans, yet rave reviews in the press consoled SMITH & MIGHTY. The next stage was to concentrate on the project and label More Rockers, run with third member Peter D. Rose. They started laying down tracks with groundbreaking breakbeat and Drum 'n' Bass again, which were picked up and reworked by producers like Roni Size and DJ Krust. Hence the arrival of 'Bristol Jump-Up'.
Hip hop, reggae, soul and mainly a great love of dub make the songs on the new album somewhat of one of the most exciting records to appear out of Bristol. The album was recorded over a period of two years, with vocals by the likes of Tammy Payne, Alice Perera and Rudy Lee, who all also hail from Bristol, and SMITH & MIGHTY's deeply-embedded roots in the city make the whole thing into rather a family affair.
Rockers Hi-Fi - Transmission Control (1998)
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Now for the mixes!
Smith & Mighty - Essential Mix 11 - 24 - 96 part 1 Quality: 85.93 MB | 192 kbps | 44100 Hz | Stereo | 62:34 min.
Massive Attack - Any Love (Massive Attack) Smith & Mighty - Walk On (Three Stripe) McKelz Smith & Mighty - Mix me Down Maestro (Three Stripe) The General - The Time To Rhyme (FFRR) Fresh 4 - Wishing On A Star (Ten) Smith & Mighty - Anyone (Three Stripe) Receiver - Irrational (Swarf Finger) The Wild Bunch - The Look Of Love (4th & Broadway) Smith & Mighty with McKelz & Tammy Payne - Seeds (White Label) Wilks - A & R Man (White Label) Dub Ghecko - Love To The Power Of Each (Dub Head) Dub Ghecko - Love To The Power Of Each (Dub Head) Smith & Mighty - Killa (FFRR) Blue & Red/ Freddie - Blessed (Acetate Pressing) Blue & Red - Unity (Acetate Pressing) Blue & Red/ K.Oil - Don Anything (Acetate Pressing) Tamlins - Baltimore Remix 2 (Acetate Pressing) Tamlins - Baltimore Remix 3 (Acetate Pressing) Smith & Mighty - Heavens In (Acetate Pressing) Bally Sagoo - Ghuraliya (Columbia) Virginity - Rainbows (More Rockers) Flyn & Flora - New World (White Label) Jazklash - Off The Edge (White Label) Jazklash - BQE (White Label) Smith & Mighty - Same (More Rockers) Smith & Mighty - Higher (More Rockers) More Rockers - Another Day (More Rockers) More Rockers - Sound Boy (More Rockers) More Rockers - Show Love (Acetate)
Smith & Mighty - Essential Mix 11 - 24 - 96 part 2 Quality: 78.98 MB | 192 kbps | 44100 Hz | Stereo | 57:30 min.
More Rockers - 162 (Acetate) More Rockers- Nightfall (More Rockers) More Rockers - First Time (More Rockers) More Rockers - Frush (Acetate) More Rockers - Das Ya One (More Rockers) More Rockers - 1 2 3 Break (More Rockers) Silent Poets - Talk Is Toy (Acetate) Jazklash - Than The Haze (Acetate) More Rockers - Bibo (Acetate) More Rockers - Cure (Acetate) smith & mighty - Down In Rwanda (More Rockers) Flyn & Flora - Bass Speaker (White Label)
Rob Smith - Live at Groovalistic 11/2002 No Tracklisting available - this mix starts off dubby/housey and then moves into Bristol-style Drum'n'Bass. Very good mix!
Received a request for the Tresor Vol. 1 comp which I unfortunately could not locate. But I did find a couple of the first Tresor releases, which are just so good I have to post them!
A bit about Tresor: Tresor (German for safe or vault) is an underground techno nightclub and record label - one of the most influential clubs for techno music in the 1990s. The club was founded in March 1991 in the vaults of the former old Wertheim department store in Mitte, the central part of the former East Berlin, next to the famous Potsdamer Platz, however the history of the club goes back to 1988 when the electronic music label Interfisch opened the UFO Club in Berlin. UFO was the original centre of Berlin house and techno, but due to financial problems that club closed in 1990.
After UFO closed, Interfisch's head, Dimitri Hegemann and some investors in the club found the new space in East Berlin. This was advantageous timing, as it was only a few months before Germany unified. The vaults under the Wertheim department store proved to be the perfect location for a club, and Tresor quickly became the place to be in Berlin. Tresor continued to be a popular club to this day, having expanded and reconstructed continuously several times to include an outdoor garden area, and a second "Globus" floor. The concept for the Tresor floor in the basement was specifically hard techno, industrial and acid music while Globus was featuring mainly more mellow house sound. The recordlabel Tresor Records was founded soon after the club first opened, in October 1991. Featured artists on the label include Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, Robert Hood, Joey Beltram, Pacou, Cristian Vogel and many others.
In 2004 the documentary "Tresor Berlin: The Vault & the Electronic Frontier" was released. Directed by Mike Andrawis, it features interviews with Hegemann, Carola Stoiber, and DJs & artists associated with the club & label. [1] The film covers the period from Hegemann's involvement with the Fishladen and UFO clubs in Berlin-Kreuzberg to the final months prior to Tresor's closure.
Tresor closed on the 16th April 2005, after several years prolonged short-term rent. The city sold the land to an investor group to build offices on the Leipziger Straße location. It was open for each night of April 2005, with the final event starting the Saturday night with queues stretching all the way down the road, and still going Monday morning.
Tresor reopened on 24th May 2007 in a renovated power plant on Köpenickerstrasse in Mitte.
The following are the first releases off the Tresor label, 001 and 002 respectively.
Tracklist: A1 Sonic Destroyer (5:00) A2 Rave New World (5:29) A3 The Final Hour (4:15) B1 G-force (4:12) B2 Whatever Happen To Peace (5:30) B3 Mindpower (5:43)
This is great techno. 1991 style. Very minimal and soulful, but not the standard 'soul' more like machine soul. Tons of bleeps and shuffly 808s + synth stabs for days. Awesome stuff!
First Tresor release. "Whatever Happened to Peace" is a dark, sophisticated, and suprisingly simple classic. Note that this was re-released by Mute as "Sonic Destroyer" but with this EP's tracklist.
Just got a couple new mixes from my homey in Austin called MVSCLZ (aka Ben Aqua). Well that's his latest pseudonym at least; Ben is a man of many different faces and sounds. MVSCLZ plays alot of early 80s obscure-ish new-wave/electro/dub/disco stuff, which isn't necessarily much of what we post on this blog but it's always fun to switch things up every once in a while. Plus he sports ridiculous mustaches. Keepin it free-form, ya know...
This guy also sometimes performs in a 1-man fantasy metal band called ASSACRE (yes!!), which has been described as a continuous shredding guitar solo. While Wikipedia elaborates like this:
After releasing a demo in 2004 entitled Impossibly Silent, ASSACRE began making a name for himself throughout Texas with his wild, confrontational, and unpredictable performances. He is often extravagantly costumed in concert and in photographs. The costumes, which he creates himself, result in the visual aspect of the project becoming as important as the musical.
ASSACRE ambitiously toured the USA in the summer of 2005 in support of his first full-length release, Fantastic Illusions Worth Dying For (Awthum Records, August 2005). The album features 8 tracks of fantasy, death, and thrash metal mixed with bizarre, abstract sound collages, displaying a wide array of musical influences - from Death to Klaus Nomi to Merzbow to Sun Ra.
So anyways, this post isn't primarily about Assacre but I just think the notion is so ridiculous that it demands attention. For more on Assacre, peep the myspace: http://myspace.com/assacre.
So anyways, dude hooked me up with his latest mixes and I need to post them. Here ya go:
MVSCLZ - Black Magic Mountain 1. (intro) Vangelis - Conquest of Paradise 2. Future World Orchestra - I'm Not Afraid of the Future 3. Goblin - Tenebre 4. Claudio Simonetti - College 5. Bob East Showband - Squash 6. Martin Agterberg - Ephemeron 7. Gene Ramone - Romantic Face 8. Passengers - Go Michelle 9. Vivien Vee - Gotta Go 10. Imagination - Music and Lights 11. Peter Jacques Band - Counting on Love One, Two, Three 12. Arabesque - Don't Kiss a Crocodile 13. Change - Angel in My Pocket 14. Richard Romero - Non Chalance 15. Alexander Robotnick - Love Robot 16. Vam Cyborg - Gods Valley (New Dance Mix) 17. Patrick Cowley - Teen Planet
and MVSCLZ - 2008 Will Be Delicious 1 (intro) Cerrone - Désertion (Suite) 2 Midnight Passion - I Need You 3 Bamboo - Space Ship Crashing 4 Creatures - Digital Rebel 5 Neoton Familia - Disckokece 6 Disco Dream and the Androids - Connection Disconnection 7 Video Kids - Communication Outerspace 8 Psychic Interface - Dancin' in the Night 9 Xalan - I Only Move For Money 10 Space Art - Axius 11 Moon Birds - Astro 9 12 Giorgio Moroder - First Hand Experience in Second Hand Love 13 Telex - L'amour Toujours 14 Wish Key - Orient Express 15 Passengers - Go Michelle 16 Crazy Gang - Telephone Computer