The Move

Haven't posted anything in a long time, but with a good excuse: i've been moving house for almost 2 weeks now and i'm finally starting to settle down. Quite happy with my new flat, not happy at all with the acoustics of my new bedroom. Fortunately a friend is helping out with measuring and standing waves and all the stuff i should have learned at uni (but didn't because i was lazy/busy making music).

Anyway, shouldn't be long before the internet man plugs me in the www again - in the meantime, here's an old tune i've been playing lots:

Toni Esposito - Rosso Napoletano

Black Meteoric Star

Below are two videos from the Black Meteoric Star performance @ Bios, Athens. The event was a wonderfully psychedelic experience, aided from the Assume Vivid Astro Focus installation and glasses, that gave you something very close to "acid-vision". The prismatic effects that you see on video is a only a small part of the overall visual sensation (we shot the first vid through the glasses), which along with the smoke machine and surrounding lighting effects made the night really chaotic.

Raw, analog and totally live, Gavin's set was fantastic, reducing our neuron synapses to pulp - which was the main reason for going out to listen in the first place. Truly memorable.

Moebius

Shocking new track from the cosmic master, fresh off 20jfg.

Dieter Moebius - Rast

--..--

Arthur - a good friend, always.

...and the proof

Stitches

Cover artwork of the year. Music's exquisitely sampladelic, too.

Out now on Cast-A-Blast

Mystery Of Bomarzo

VC People - Mystery Of Bomarzo (1980)

Dreader Than Dread

artwork: Futura 2000

This is dub clash.

Tempo

One of the first (and finest) examples of a digital dancehall production. Raw and honest electronic music with a rhythm box, a few synths stabs and a lot of soul.

"A little a dis, a little a dat

Listen mi voice through the speaker box

It soun' sweeter, with the echo chamber

Don't you know, we are the danger ..."

Instrumental included for maximum repeat effect.

Tempo

Fingerprinced

Evil version of a track picked in this must-read feature.

Personal rip y'all.

The Residents - Diskomo (Live In San Fransisco)

Mind The Sides

Manic collector Mr Z from Naked Sides sent me a very cool and exclusive mix. Great music from a great blog (run by a great guy).

Naked Sides mix for FH

Speaking Piano

Shackleton

His new release on Perlon is flawless. Totally destroying me right now. I think i'm going to buy that record twice.

Sun Ra

Dance of The Cosmo Aliens

Edit

As some anonymous commentator kindly pointed out, i've left three essential tracks out of the second Aquarius tape (too many hours in front of the pc, probably). My apologies, a fresh link is now up, and i'm also posting it here for convenience:

The Aquarius Tapes II

The Aquarius Tapes

Artwork: Mickey Dreamkey

Here's to the memory of ages past. A selection of tunes from the FH stash, collected throughout the years from great blogs like Mutant Sounds, Egg City Radio, Zero G Sound, The Library Hunt and numerous others. I tried to avoid sharing tracks re-issued recently, so if you like this early electronica style, you should check out the re-releases by Lo Recordings, Permanent Vacation, Trunk Records, Electunes, Cosmic Dancer, Finders Keepers and Glo Spot. Each tape comes with a different "Aquarius" cover version, the highlight being the frantic Daniel Johnston WFMU telephone performance. Enjoy.

The Aquarius Tapes - I

Jacques Lejeune - Danse Des Nains
Carlos Futura - Bach For Bachelors
Magical Ring - Dreams In The Wind
Mike Vickers - Tomorrow Today
Tyndall - Erdbeerkristalle
Armando Sciascia - Disperazione
Claude Larson - Timbral Construction
Clara Mondshine - Chipmania
Kevin Harrison - Views Of The Rhine
Klaus Weiss - Rhythm Track 5
Logic System - XY
Chris Evans - Hercules
Roberto Cacciapaglia - My Time
Ron Geesin - Electro Rhythm 25
Peter Nero - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

The Aquarius Tapes - II

A.T.R.O.X. - Against the odds
Arturo Stalteri - Il Prisma Magico
Bernard Fevre - Sunshine On March
Alan HawkShaw & Brian Benett - Fanfair
François De Roubaix - Mauvaise Nouvelle On Ne Part Plus
Bruce Haack - Cherubic Hymn
Don Buchla - In The Beginning Etude II
Bernard Estardy - Tic Tac Nocturne
Olaf Schirm - Untitled Track No. 8
D. Labarre & F. Schnetzer - Hypothèse
Georg Deuter - Pearls (glittering - continuous flow)
Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Dancing Electrons
John Cameron & Alan Parker - Heat Haze
Steve Thomsen - Strange New World
White Noise - Love Without Sound
Gérard Zadj & Jean-Pierre Decerf - Progress
Edgar Froese - Nights Of Automatic Women
Tim Blake - Passage Sur La Cite De La Revelation
Mort Garson - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

The Aquarius Tapes - III

John, Paul, Ringo & George - The Bus (Instrumental)
Space Lady - Major Tom
P. Willsher & K. Chesher - Eye Of Horus
Ted Lasry - Challenger
The Future And The Human League - Interface
Social Climbers - Palm Springs
Tony Carey - Yellow Power
Neil Norman - Not of This Earth
Esplendor Geometrico - Generaciσn En Crisis
Deutsche Wertarbeit - Deutscher Wald
Moggi (Piero Umiliani) - Danza Galattica
Michael Garrison - For You And Me
Harald Grosskopf - Synthesist
Logic System - Person To Person
Bernard Szajner - Ibad
Alexandros - Difficult Birth
Daniel Johnston - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

The Aquarius Tapes - IV

Jean-Jacques Perrey - Astronic Computer
Keith Mansfield - Generator (a)
Haruomi Hosono & Tadanori Yokoo - Malabar Hotel, Upper Floor
Francois De Roubaix - Survol
Space Art - Nous Savons Tout
Grainer - Fallout
Barry Gray - Breakaway
Bernard Estardy - Ala Mia Thra
Nino Nardini & Roger Roger - Malaysia
Moog Party Time - Listening To Mozart
Anthony King - Donna's Dilemma
Giovanni Cristiani - Dancing For Diletta
Nino Nardini - Poppets ''Calling Bach''
The Moog Machine - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

Echovolt

This is what the first Echovolt release looks like. Pure quality from the Athens-based label, with Speculator/Grackle and Professor Genius providing some cool electro-kraut. Only 300 out, be fast. Bon voyage and congrats to the label boys.

Shackleton

More freebie madness. Classic mind-fuck reworked.

Harmonia - Sometimes In Autumn (Shackleton Remix)

Alemu Aga

The ethiopian Arthur Russell, according to Thalia.

Alemu Aga - Abatatchen Hoy Pater Noster

Thess

FH and their humble visual servant will be travelling to Thessaloniki for a much deserved mid-week break from their 9-5 slavery. And with a good reason, since we'll be opening for Morr Music's own Tarwater at Block 33. On Thursday i'll also be playing some records over at Pierrot Le Fou creating an eerie atmosphere for the unsuspecting people who thought they would be having a normal night out.

Haven't sorted out the music for the trip yet, but this is always hanging around in the playlists:

Acid Mothers Temple - In C

Analogue

Lightwave - Cities Analogues

Alpha Phase

artwork: Mickey Dreamkey

Electronica excursions by Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard.

Global Communication - Alpha Phase (1993)

The Return

Smoking new free track, courtesy of the boys.

Model 500 - Huesca

Ambient Music

"The main purpose of the WSP’s work was to document acoustic environments, both functional and dysfunctional, and to increase public awareness of the importance of the soundscape, particularly through individual listening sensitivity. In current terminology, the goal is to put "acoustic ecology" on the environmental agenda. However, given the importance of local action, one of the WSP’s first major publications was The Vancouver Soundscape, a booklet plus two records which appeared in 1973.

Twenty years later, we have re-issued most of the recordings on a double CD, where the second CD consists of documentary recordings and soundscape compositions derived from digital recordings made in Vancouver in the 1990s. Not only was the Vancouver project probably the first systematic study of the soundscape of a city, but the 20-year span with the follow-up project gave a unique aural portrait of the rapid evolution of the city and its soundscape. Such longitudinal work is rare in acoustics and noise studies, and should be encouraged in soundscape documentation, since both personal and cultural memory lacks the ability to track such aural changes in the environment."

More about the concept of acoustic ecology here.

a beautiful ambient composition:

The Music Of Horns And Whistles

The Eclipse

Music commisioned by the 15th Athens International Film Festival, to be performed live at the "Space" screening - featuring proto sci-fi and experimental short films by Man Ray, Edwin Porter, Georges Méliès, Marcel Duchamp and others.

Κάτι σαν...

Lions

Tones On Tail - Lions

Mix

New mix - Deep, psychedelic techno.

FH september mix

Disco Baby

You need this.

Arjune Popo - Disco Baby

Pale Horses

Athens Reunion

I know it doesn't show well on 400x400, but they've put our names under these American schoolkids' photos, how cute. I would dare to say it's Athens' finest deejays, but with Kernelcoremode missing entirely, i couldn't. We'll all be taking our 1-hour turns on the new Funktion 1 sound system over at Bios this Friday and Saturday, with yours truly opening saturday night, just after 21:00.

Also, have i ever mentioned that Athens has its own, proper reggae soundsystem? Yes sir, it's the boys from Dubwise Hi-Fi, alone at the top. This Saturday they're featuring Ras Styler (House Of Roots, UK) and since i'm going through my biggest reggae phase ever, i'm definitely checking them out. It takes a lot of commitment to build a handcrafted sound-system, dancehall-style, and also convince the venue owner to install it just for the night (not to mention moving it). These boys are up to the task, no doubt. You can check their system on myspace, or better yet, at the spot.

Space Oddities

The tasty people at Permanent Vacation have released the second volume of their compilation series that makes available some great and ridiculously obscure library tracks - it seems as fantastic as the previous volume, if not more. I also noticed that it features two Blue Phantom tracks from the album i shared a while ago. Ooops....

Eno

"I suppose people here (in the U.S.) might think it's strange to regard doo-wop as magical music, but i did, because in England we had no tradition of it whatsoever...It could have been from another galaxy for all i knew. I was absolutely entranced by it, from the age of seven or eight, when i first heard those early songs like "Get A Job" (The Silhouettes, 1958). I thought 'This is just beautiful'. I had never heard music like this, and one of the reasons it was beautiful was because it came without a context. It plopped from outer space, in a sense. Now, in later life i realised that this removal of context was an important point in the magic of music. One of the things i've been concerned with a lot is to deliberately dismantle or shift contexts around so that something comes from an area where you didn't expect it, or something appears and it has a certain mysteriousness to it."

I can go on and on about Eno, but i won't. Instead i'll just give this:

Brian Eno - His Music And The Vertical Color of Sound

This guy wrote his thesis on Eno and then came up with the above well researched book that features a large amount of compact Eno wisdom, straight from the source.

Also, this is really interesting:

Brian Eno on KPFA

a great radio interview from the early '80s, where he discusses music and comes across as a really gentle and simple person - nothing like what i ever imagined him to be. With his output and status, i used to think that he would have the rather appaling "too cool for you" attitude (that many sad people carry around, even when releasing a single record) multiplied by a thousand. I was so wrong.

Weathers

Larry Gus left Greece today for Barcelona, to do a Master's on "Interfaces" - whatever that may be in the academic context of music technology. Chances are he'll have to part his beloved improvisational strains in favor of building Max/MSP patches and writing essays. I had my share of all that, although as far as Max goes, i can install it very well, and make it run. I can also uninstall it, flawlessly. Ok, i may even know what some objects do, but that's it. I prefer spending my time making music - i am sure that when i have the elaborate idea about a fucked-up sequencing process, i can just have someone else materialise it. Probably Larry, coming to think of it.

Anyway, this guy drops his first album on the Athenian-based Cast-A-Blast label in a bit, and his inspiration stems from listening too much Madlib and Dilla, peppered with some Animal Collective gayness. If it happens to be as good as this promo mixtape of his, i'm sure i'll have it on repeat for many days.

"Did you know that people probably talk more about the weather than anything else? Weather is an important part of everybody's life. It affects what we wear, what we do and where we go. So many words used to describe weather...Can you think of some?"

It's all about library cues, krautrock and the weather.

Arthur

I can't make up my mind on David Toop, but i know i love Arthur Russell. Druffalo has a nice article by the former, concerning the latter.

Is It All Over: Arthur Russell and the art of fluidic Dance Music

Arpanet

This one never grows old.

Arpanet - Wireless Internet

Bernard Again

I've posted before about how much i like the analog goodness of Bernard Fevre's library albums, and it's great to find out that Lo Recordings is reissuing the "Strange World Of Bernard Fevre" LP with a different tracklisting. Order one here.

Deluxe Faraway Dream

Wesley Matsell has just started a very interesting blog.

Sidonia

Distortions

George from the Prokat35 squat gave me this LP, confident that i would be blown away and he was spot on: great psychedelic rock which also surfaces as a french library record called "Distortions Pop" credited to H. Tical - one of Armando Sciascia's pseudonyms.

Blue Phantom - Distortions

Everything Is Fine

Kitephonics feat. FH - In Heaven

Zombi Holocaust

Couldn't resist.

Emmanuele And The Last Cannibals/Zombie Holocaust OST

Amiga Railroad Adventures

Before graduating to the first incarnations of the Personal Computer as we know it today, me and the other geeky pals from the neighborhood had some really cool systems to play our video games on, including the Amstrad 464, the 6128, the Sinclair QL and the glorious 16-bit technology of the Amiga 500 - probably our most loved machine. While our systems are gathering dust in some basement, the ever-prolific Legowelt persists in his retro values and sequences his whole new LP on the Amiga 1200 with the Octamed tracker. I really couldn't picture him with a quad core anyway. The album comes complete with a great cover of Fabio Frizzi's "Apotheosis", and since i mentioned the great one:

Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2

Progress

350.000 acres of beautiful forest in the suburbs of Athens are now cinder, thanks to the irrational laws of the local government that allow these sub-humans to build more houses where they shouldn't - and through arson. In this vicious cycle, rural houses that got built thanks to the last arson, burn in the next one.

Pure, mindless evil with an idiotic touch.

The Return

Anti-Pop Consortium - Volcano (Four Tet Remix)

Dissident

Fantastic mix from Dissident's Andy Blake.

A Cool In the Pool website

Catholic

After unearthing treasures by Pete Namlook (the timeless techno of "Subharmonic Atoms") and Slap (with a sublime reworking by Ricardo Villalobos) Stefan Goldmann and Finn Johannsen from Macro continue their "Prototypes" series with a lost album produced in the late seventies by legendary dance music pioneer Patrick Cowley and his musical partner Jorge Soccaras. You can read the story on the Catholic myspace, as well as listen to some tracks from the LP. The whole project looks and sounds very exciting, with a release date scheduled for October along with 12" versions from high profile remixers such as Morgan Geist.

The album constitutes of raw, experimental and highly infectious new wave/post punk music with some great electronic pop moments (such as "Memory Fails Me") and even a beautiful cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man"! Once more proven, Macro's eclecticism knows no bounds. These boys are just fearless.

Cosmic Legacy

This looks uber-cool.

Rhythm

My most listened-to album for this year, even picked up the CD along the 3 vinyl EPs which feature two extra tracks) - all out on the Japanese Sound Of Speed label. Luke Vibert at his most cohesive, with a bass-heavy album that flows incredibly well, while being full of great hooks that force repeated listens. His characteristic musical humor is also still there, alongside all the library music influences. Again, a brilliant album, one of the very few this year that's worth as a whole. Not really feeling his most recent Planet Mu offering though.

here's the opening track:

Luke Vibert - Wow! It's Now!

Pulstar

Classic Vangelis material, reworked by '80s band Hypnosis. One of the first Italo tunes i've ever heard, without even knowing what Italo was. All i knew back then was my Atari game console and He-Man action figures. Good times, undoubtedly.

Hypnosis - Pulstar 12"

Suspension Ability

Artwork: Mickey Dreamkey

Surreal Bootlegs

Aphex Twin Live @Summersonic 10th Anniversary 07/08/2009

Timing Incorrect

Wacky abstract beat-goodness with an idm edge from the great experimental Japanese turntablist (who sadly passed away in 2007).

Highly addictive.

DJ Klock - Timing Incorrect LP

Pinelli

Tony Pinelli is known for a fairly large amount of utterly silly italian-style ballads sung in Greek with a foreign accent, most of which can induce painful laughter to the listener. Apart from those, i discovered that he is responsible for some really beautiful, naive faux-psychedelic tracks with awesome production that reminisces The Beach Boys, Donovan and subsequently, space and textures that bands like the Animal Collective use nowadays (borrowed gracefully, of course). Yup, that's right, Tony Pinelli and the Animal Collective both mentioned in the same post. Don't you just love this blog?

Also included is the Demis Loucas track that Egon from Stones Throw played in his last visit to Athens, waiting in vain for some kind of response from the "heads" below. Maybe next time.

download: Greek summer pop

Keep it simple

One of Gavin Russom's abused synths, coming with sage advice.

Editing

An edit.

This post was originally about how i am putting the FH blog in the freezer - until i changed my mind and decided to carry on with it - i just missed this place. It seems that in the absence of a proper internet site i will have to make and do with Blogger for the time being. Though i am occasionaly fatiqued with the huge amount of senseless things that one can come across over the internet, my second thoughts were that i just want to keep this place up and running, even if it's for one lazy post per week.

so, it's good to be back!

(urm, i sure hope someone is still out there reading this...)

Psychedelia Balearis

My own interpretation of "balearic" does not include any Phil Collins tracks, or any of those over-priced and dated records that make the recent cosmic disco hype. Instead expect some modern and summery psychedelic music, along with some assorted techno thrown in for good measure.

See you there!

Hectic

Not enough free time lately, hence the ultra-limited posting. Listen to Dr Strangeloop. Artwork by freakmaster George Tourlas.

Shitty Stuff

Shit Robot's Simply Shit mix

(woo-hoo!)

The Law Of Return

Liking some tracks from DJ Hell's last album was quite a surprise, until Macro's press release for their latest 12" informed me it was Peter Kruder at the controls, sprinkling some of his magic wisdom here and there. I can't be sure about the exact amount of Mr. Kruder's involvement in the Hell project, but i can be positive about the quality of his new tracks. Another excellent release from the Macro boys, who will also be putting out a lost LP from proto-techno maestro Patrick Cowley, plus a series of twelves with remixes from people like Morgan Geist. Big things. For now, you can aurally witness the beauty of The Law Of Return over at Macro myspace.

Live

Some Tunes

Some tunes i've been enjoying the past few days: "Rosenrod" from the new Diskjokke 12" (with an album on the way), Koze's "Lord Of Panama" on the beatless "Enjoy The Silence" compilation, Toy's "Woodpecker" on Smalltown Supersound and Electronicat's "Purple And Green" from Cosmo Vitelli's "I'm A Cliche" comp.

Good stuff.

download: some tunes

Summer Perfect

Nutron - Spectra LP

Psychedelic Music

It is always a pity to hear all the psychedelic elements and sense of adventure that make up the legacy of krautrock, degraded to formulaic pop noodlings by bands like Fujiya & Miyagi or Stereolab. Luckily, some people seem more willing to explore sound further: Australian Psy-Harmonics label and Japanese affiliates Comma have released some of the most exciting psychedelic music around at the start of this millenium and though they've been slipping in and out of form ever since, the music from that time still sounds really fresh. AoA consist of Boredoms members and the evil, extra terrestrial Shaolin Wooden Men is reportedly the project of aussie electronic pioneer Ollie Olsen, mostly busy with electroacoustic projects these days, some of them released on the eclectic Creative Space label.

Not for the faint-hearted.

AoA - New Born Physical Harmonic Reaction
Shaolin Wooden Men - Back On The Radio, Joe
Shaolin Wooden Men - Let Me Out!
EYE - Neu 7

download: Comma/Psy-Harmonics mini-tape

Surreal Bootlegs

Ricardo Tobar live @ Full Spectrum, Utrecht 12.6.09

...

Artwork - Mickey Dreamkey

The Summer Of Vileness Fats

Stolen from Druffalo.

Black Meteoric Star

I just realised that most of my last few posts is all complaining about stuff, which is not really what this blog is about. So here is Black Meteoric Star's "Death Tunnel", from his excellent new release on DFA. Brand new and downgraded at 160 kbps. Just visit your favourite digital music retailer for the rest.


Black Meteoric Star - Death Tunnel

In Synch

Best moment from last night: chatting to Marcus about the greatness of the first Killing Joke album.

Worst moment from last night: bouncers not letting my girlfriend back inside - she was wearing her bracelet but had thrown away the ticket clipping. The whole of Friday night, the bracelet would do just fine, and on Saturday night they decide to start asking about clippings as well, without telling people not to throw them away in the first place.


Of course it wasn't really the bouncers' fault - it was basically the incompetency of the gentleman "in charge" at the door - who wouldn't say a thing even when she was in tears from frustration. He wouldn't answer to my direct questions either. He seemed flooded with similar complaints, while he wasn't able not only to propose some kind of solution, but even to have a normal, civilised discussion. He was just letting the bouncers do all the talking.

Wanker.

And the idiocy of the "you-have-a-bracelet-but-not-a-clipping-so-you-can't-get-in" thing, how hard is finding a bracelet AND a clipping to pass to someone?

May i suggest stamping for next year? It's more crude than bracelets, sure - but at least chaotic situations like the above could be avoided.

Again, to the guy "in charge" at the door: if you are unable to do the job, don't take it in the first place.

Wanker.

Synched

A tape featuring most of the artists that i'm looking forward listening to in this year's Synch Festival.

Cluster - Hollywood
Shit Robot - Triumph
Mathew Jonson - Followed By Angels
Radiohead - Nude (NTEIBINT 3.5 Remix)
Squarepusher - Tundra 4
The Bug - Flying (feat. Ricky Ranking)
Theo Parrish - They Say
Junior Boys - In The Morning (Hot Chip Remix)
Egotrya - Volcano (1000 Lightworlds Remix)
Aeroplane - Above The Clouds

download: The Synch 2009 Tape

Also, here is YOU's Electric Day album, posted in one of Paul Durango's many blogs (a great digger, that guy) - well worth the listen.

download: YOU - Electric Day



can't wait.

Pelican classics

on Flickr

Skywatcher

Some nice freebies from the Strange Life Records blog.

Also, Legowelt gives two new tracks for free.

Violencia

This Silent Servant tune epitomizes the way i like my techno: a deep and muscular minimal excursion with sounds placed and programmed in such a way that feels it could sustain interest even if it was continuously playing for an hour. It is always hard to come up with a simple and effective tune, but the Silent Servant delivers effortlessly. Violencia on repeat.

Lovingly encoded at 160 kbps, democratically offering the option even to the cheapest music lover out there to go and buy the tune for a euro or two.

Silent Servant - Violencia

Some Thoughts

Pic: Lord Quas

Unfortunately, Zomby didn't make it to his Athens gig last night, which was no surprise since the guy doesn't show up in most of his home gigs - i wouldn't expect him to fly overseas and play. Maybe it's his elaborate scheme for making a name for himself: Zomby never shows up for his gigs, so when he finally does show up, it will be more of a rare, sought-out experience. But i don't want to think that way. I am just curious what his agency has to say about all these no-shows.


Anyway, his absence left the 2:00 slot open so we could catch Stones Throw crew Madlib, Egon and J Rocc play in another venue, not too far from there. When we came in, Egon was playing some old Greek psychedelic tunes, followed by some old psychedelic tunes from Cairo, followed by some old psychedelic tunes from fuck-knows-where. The music was deep, and it was a total mind-blower. J Rocc played a nice set of mostly straightforward hip-hop tunes along with some ill Dilla beats and the odd selection here and there, and then it was Madlib's turn.

Madlib got a lot of hate for under-performing, including some booing and some rather rude , moronic remarks such as "get a life!" or "play the Madvillain tunes!". Possibly being smoked out, most of the time he was scratching meaninglessly for minutes before letting the tune play and then mumble some incomprehensible raps on top.

Now if anyone is interested in my own, strictly personal point of view, here it is: there are some artists that can do whatever the fuck they want. Actually, any artist is free to do what ever the fuck he wants, but some are more easily excused than others - in case one doesn't sympathise with their intentions. Having watched the Chrome Children DVD, i kind of expected more from him. But, again, that's his thing. That's what he did and that's who he is. A smoked out genius that can do whatever the fuck he feels like. I wouldn't expect anyone in the room to get it, including me, cause that stuff really made sense only if you were in the same mind state that he was in. Again, that was his thing and that's what he did. Athens has a long tradition of DJs playing shit and artists under-performing just because they don't give a fuck about a small country in the Balkans, but i don't think that was the case here.


Whatever the case was (and i really don't want to be misjudged as a fanboy here), some people just earn the right to do what they want, based on their creative output. The Aphex Twin is one of them, i feel. Madlib is another. I am just happy i saw him perform in flesh.

The Magnificent

thanks to Isavella for this one.

Braindance

The mighty James Holden @ The Global Network last night. Highlights include tracks by John Talabot, Animal Collective, Santiago Salazar, Legowelt and Nathan Fake. Quality stuff.

Download: Global Network 19-5-2009

The Lost Sheep

Adrian Munsey - The Lost Sheep

Friday

Την Παρασκευή οι FH ενώνουν τις δυνάμεις τους με τους Plaid Music και το δίδυμο των Outro και υποδέχονται τον Andrew Thomson απο το Huntleys And Palmers Audio Club της Γλασκώβης. Το πρόγραμμα περιλαμβάνει ψυχεδελική χορευτική μουσική, ιδιώματα και στυλ απο τις Βαλεαρίδες νήσους, (σχεδόν) καθόλου τυρί, λίγο techno, λιγο electro, καθώς και εκλεκτισμό που δεν γνωρίζει όρια. Θα χαρούμε να σας δούμε εκεί.

Huntleys And Palmers Top 10:

1. Animal Collective - Taste

2. Ghost Note - Holy Jungle (Mark E's Pressure Dub)

3. Petar Dundov - Oasis (Gavin Russom Remix)

4. Findlay Brown -Teardrops In The Rain (LoveLee Remix)

5. Luca Baldini - Hooked (It's A Fine Line Remix)

6. Hardway Bros - A Diabolical Liberty

7. Poni Hoax – Images Of Sigrid (Chloe Remix)

8. Moon Unit - Connections (Ewan Pearson's Slo NRG Remix)

9. DJ Hell - The Angst

10. Zomby - Rumours & Revelations


Δύο mix απο Huntleys And Palmers (για σπιτική και όχι club ακρόαση) εδώ και εδώ.

Plaid Music εδώ και γενικότερα εδώ.

Μερικά FH εδώ.

Cheerio.

Druffalo?

A few days ago, FH got Druffaloed.

But what is a "Druffalo", you may ask. Well, I had the same question myself. Here is what i got:


“Druffalo is some kind of weird webzine experiment that started out on Myspace, until we got terribly bored of Myspace. The idea was to just subversively oppose a lot of trends going on, and indulge in obsessions nurtured by years and years of cultural activism. It is maintained by a loose anonymous top old boys collective consisting of several well known German DJs, producers and writers.

Due to popular demand we eventually installed a sound system called "The Druffalo Hit Squad" and started the Druffmix series of mixes, and we did some club gigs, too. The idea of the Druffalo Hit Squad, or D.H.S., is to just play whatever the want. We put some parties into real chaos in the meantime.”

This explanation was satisfactory enough, but i decided to dig a little deeper with the old Q and A game:


What could a “Druffalo” be?

A magazine for the elderly enthusiast. A buffalo on drugs. A raving platform sneaker aficionado. Our favourite horse at Hoppegarten. The definite guide, for everything.

What can it do?

Induce instant xtc-gayness and incredibly good taste.

How chaotic can one of your events get?

Grown up men weep, young sexy girls laugh at them. Then weep, too. Everybody is the greatest dancer. The last tunes of the night last for several hours. Strong songs and ballads at peak time. Hip house bonus beats. The exact opposite on what was said on the flyer. Very bad MC skills. Unidentifiable stains. No booze left two hours into the night. No drink tickets left for the DJs 10 minutes into the night.

Healthiest junk food ever?

Toast. Marzibombs. Underberg. Mampe. Escalopes. North Sea Shrimps. That soup at Tu Long.

Favourite arcade game ?

Galaga. Hyperolympics. Ice Climber.The Addams Family Pinball.

Your first thought/action if Cpt. Beefheart was drinking next to you in a bar? (optionally, you can replace the Cpt with Bill Drummond.)

Put on a trout mask and get fast and bulbous. Then probably slag off Ry Cooder. For Bill, impress him with setting the rest of our small change coins on fire. With his book. Then leave at exactly 3 A.M.

Are drugs bad?

Nes. Yo. Confusing!

If the catastrophic course man started at the second half of the 20^th century continues, how much time would you give to planet Earth and its inhabitants? (in years)

The angels from above will fall down and spread their wings like doves. Then we’ll walk hand in hand, and make it to the promised land.

www.druffmix.com

I Spit On Your Grave

A bad motherfucker. The Gaslamp Killer.

Stunning show last night.

Master Cartoonist

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

By the always amazing Chris Ware.

Synch 2009

Critique

I have previously stressed the fact that i try to avoid reading music reviews/speculation/critique anymore, it just tires me and i find it pointless. Sometimes i do though, particularly when i am feeling bored or have too much time in my hands (not too often). And every single time i am reminded of the reasons i have avoided doing so in the first place.

A large percentage of reviews is based on purely subjective criteria, which is quite normal i guess - especially when only a handful of reviewers can seem to bother concentrating on objective information. What i really find appalling, is when their subjectivity is expressed by corny humor and mild irony. I find it extremely disrespectful to the artist, even more so when i personally consider him to be quite serious about what he is doing. Art is not to be criticised, only enjoyed (or not) and i am really shocked to think that certain listeners can get cues of what to listen from reviews like that, without investigating further. Time is precious, agreed - and there is too much music out there, so one has to get cues. But from what i gather, there is a whole lot of filtering that needs to take place afterwards.

Mania

Άλλο ένα απο τα πράγματα που είχαν καταστρέψει το αγνό εφηβικό μου μυαλό, κληρονομιά σε VHS απο τον πατέρα και προσεκτικά φυλαγμένο εως ότου έρθει η ώρα. Η ώρα λοιπόν ήρθε, η ταινία δεν φαίνεται να υπάρχει πουθενά στο net σε οποιαδήποτε μορφή, έτσι έφτιαξα ένα (αρκετά αξιοπρεπές) VHS-rip για να τη δει ο κοσμάκης να γουστάρει.


Υπάρχουν παγανιστικά πνεύματα που καταλαμβάνουν καταπιεσμένες εργαζόμενες μητέρες την ώρα που βολτάρουν με το παιδί τους στον Εθνικό κήπο? Η μήπως το μυαλό είναι απλά αδύναμο? Και εαν είναι μόνο το μυαλό, πως αυτή η παγανιστική έξαψη απλώνεται σε όλα τα παιδιά τριγύρω, δημιουργώντας μια προσωρινή κατάρρευση του πολιτισμού σε ένα απο τα τελευταία μέρη της Αθήνας με πράσινο? Ήταν όντως "νεκροταφείο έκει κάτω, λαγούμια" όπως εξιστορεί ο Άρης Ρέτσος για τον εμφύλιο?

"θα'ρθεί η νεράιδα του μεσημεριού, αλλά φοβάται τα θηρία"


Αφιερωμένο στους αναγνώστες του blog, με αγάπη.

Ξέρουμε τι κουμάσι είστε.

Γιώργος Πανουσόπουλος - Μανία VHS rip

Inevitably

artwork: Mickey Dreamkey

FH on FB

Flying

artwork: Rui Martins

Every single time that work piles up, i seem to be wandering meaninglessly on the internet for hours doing all sorts of useless, time-killing things before i decide to get on with it: reading myspace bulletins, sorting my music folders in chronological order, g-talking, and lots of other stuff i really shouldn't be doing when i'm on a deadline.

So now it's past midnight, i'm feeling sleepy already and i haven't written a single word - but browsing through my old tracks i found the first track i've ever managed to finish back in 2005: The Beatles' "Flying" (off their "Magical Mystery Tour") which came really handy for an edit as the stereo panning allowed me to isolate the drums and do all those dated drum chops that seemed to be all the hype back then. That Ringo guy always played some fat breaks, that's for sure.


The Beatles - Flying (the FH edit)

Writer's block

FH - Writer's Block

Dub Mystics

featuring music by Augustus Pablo, Yabby You, Horace Andy, Glen Brown, Tommy Mc Cook and the Congos, played by The Upsetters and The Aggrovators.

All tracks mixed in dub by Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby.

FH Mystical Reggae Tape

Τα Καθιερωμένα

Πριν μερικούς μήνες είχα διαβάσει στο νετ για την περίπτωση των Modrec: η διοργανώτρια εταιρία του μεγάλου φεστιβάλ (η gig, δε θυμάμαι) στο οποίο θα συμμετείχαν, τους είχε ζητήσει όχι μόνο να παίξουν χωρίς αμοιβή, αλλά και να πληρώσουν οι ίδιοι τα έξοδα μεταφοράς και τον εξοπλισμό τους - προτάσεις που πολύ σωστά αρνήθηκαν. Θυμάμαι πόσο με είχε ξενερώσει όλη αυτή η ιστορία, και μάλιστα με αφέλεια είχα υποθέσει πως αυτή η αντιμετώπιση αφορούσε μόνο τη συγκεκριμένη διοργανώτρια εταιρία.

Μαθαίνω λοιπόν, απο στέλεχος άλλης διοργανώτριας εταιρίας η οποία μου πρότεινε να ανοίξω ένα gig τους με κάποιο όνομα του εξωτερικού, οτι αυτό το πράγμα είναι "καθιερωμένο" και αποτελεί "πάγια τακτική". Να μην πληρώνονται τα support. Αδυνατώντας να καταλάβω τη λογική του να παίζεις σε ένα event με είσοδο και να μην πληρώνεσαι, του ζήτησα να μου εξηγήσει πως και απο ποιούς είναι "καθιερωμένο". Μου απάντησε πολύ φυσικά και αβίαστα οτι "έτσι είναι", τα support διαφημίζουν τη δουλειά τους και μάλιστα "στο εξωτερικό, κάποιες μπάντες πληρώνουν για να είναι μέρος ένος μεγάλου tour". Εξίσου φυσικά, του απάντησα οτι αυτό μπορεί να ισχύει ανα περιστάσεις - στη συγκεκριμένη όμως, δε ζήτησα απο κανέναν να παίξω, αλλά μου ζητήθηκε.

Όπως και να έχουν τα πράγματα, θέλω να ξεκαθαρίσω τα εξής: έχω παίξει πολλές φορές χωρίς αμοιβή σε events, τα οποία όμως ΔΕΝ είχαν είσοδο. Θεωρώ παράλογο και εξευτελιστικό το να μην πληρώνεται το support σε μία συναυλία με είσοδο, και ακόμα πιο παράλογο να είναι αυτό το πράγμα "καθιερωμένο". Ουσιαστικά (όπως τόνισα και στη συνομιλία μου με τον κύριο της εταιρίας) δεν με ενδιαφέρει καθόλου το μέγεθος του ποσού, απλά με ενδιαφέρει η συμβολική χειρονομία. Και θέλω επίσης να τονίσω στους όποιους μελλοντικούς ενδιαφερόμενους, οτι δεν πρόκειται σε καμία περίπτωση να παίξω χωρίς αμοιβή σε συναυλία στην οποία το κοινό θα πληρώσει οποιοδήποτε αντίτιμο εισόδου.


Αυτά.

In A Beautiful Place

"Once you take it to an isolated, outdoor location, away from organisation, there's a sense of freedom that kicks in. it's sexier and less inhibited than an indoor event. You can have 50 or 100 people hanging out around fires, some rare music echoing around...The sound of two melodies clashing over one another, or maybe a melody to your left but a voice talking to your right, off through the trees, Doppler-shifting and filtering because of the wind or the random shapes around you. It creates a giddy, surreal sound that doesn't normally exist on records..."

BoC as quoted in The Wire, Oct 2005

Boards Of Canada - From One Source All Things Depend
(Geoghaddi bonus track for Japan)

Boards Of Canada - Macquarie Ridge
(The Campfire Headphase bonus track for Japan)

Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic - I Just Want To See You Underwater

Easter

Happy holidays to everyone.

Jamie Vex'd - Radiant Industry

Zero

English Electric

Cool retro sound from Mighty Robot.

Vinyl rip kind of fucked, so you'd better buy it.

English Electric - Posable Flotsam

English Electric myspace

Monsters

Just came back from a gig organised by a corporate soft drink brand, possibly the best i've done so far. It was actually a competition for new bands (no, i was not competing, just invited to play) and the stage production was flawless.

During the coach trip to the city of Larisa, we watched "Idi I Smotri" on Mickey Dreamkey's laptop. He's been raving about it for weeks, and i was really curious. A nice pop-corn film would be just fine for the trip, but no, Mickey wouldn't have that.

IMDB commentary says:

"The SS "action" in the Belarussian village is one of the most disturbing depictions of the second world war ever directed outside of the real footage of these things. The SS troops are on a anti-partisan operation and enter the Belarussian village. The next 10-15 minutes remained in my memory for many years after. Though the suffering of the occupied peoples under Nazi's was often used for pro-Soviet propaganda in art and film, even if it was the case in this film, the sheer horror of these scenes transcends the political."

Such a mindfuck. And a real masterpiece for modern cinema.

But such an evil mindfuck.

Monster

While the unsuspecting dancefloors of Europe are already stormed by Santiago Salazar's new monster of a track (which also destroyed the floor at Soul Stereo, thanks to all the people who came down by the way!) i am having an unusually hard time finding new music i truly enjoy.

So please people, any of you 79 kind souls that download and possibly enjoy music from this blog, make a recommendation. Any new music that you've enjoyed the last few days. Will be greatly appreciated.

Thursday

Grasshoppers, Turtles, Hamsters

Last night was not too bad.

Not one of the strongest sets i've heard from him, but music from the future nonetheless.

Because from what i gather, the default club sound will be exactly that in 10 years time: wrecked percussive sounds, deteriorating melodies, passages made of ancient noise and a generally unclassifiable style of dance music that will maintain pop elements along with a techno sensitivity - without it being "techno".

The above are all demonstrated in different doses in Holden's selection - whether it is the new Nathan Fake tracks or Clark's latest offering, the music is fearless and uncompromising, always backed by the single feature that many DJs lack these days: a musical vision.

So that will be the time that The Wire editors will have to come up with their fanciest, most obscure Greek words to try and express the inexpressible. The one i have in mind right now: "ekspermatosis".*

(* creating something new, while having a really good time in the process)