My baptism to the Church of Hard Techno Wisdom was performed by Technasia back in the days of “Hydra” (see my first post on this blog), but the archbishop of the discipline is definitely DJ Rush. And like the Pope, DJ Rush is always right. Which is why you have to listen to Frank Kvitta.
Kvitta gave one of his tapes to DJ Rush in a night club, and Rush liked it enough to invite him to release an EP on his label Kne' Deep. This should be enough to throw any hard techno amateur to his local music dispatch with the right spelling of ‘kvitta’ written on the back of his hand with a thick black pen.
As expected, his stuff (not everything though) is amazingly good hard techno. The first video was apparently made by one of Frank Kvitta's friends, Mario Ranieri.
The second video features Pet Duo, another rising star in hard techno.
Another video by Marco Ranieri, taken in a Hungarian club in Budapest. What is simply über-cool about this video is that it opens with the best track from the Donnie Darko soundtrack by Michael Andrews, one of my favourite ambient works.
Update: so Kvitta is my best pick for this summer. Hardtechno vol. 3 is wonderful: it wakes me up. It's how spending most of my time looking for contemporary classic musicians has sent me straight back to 130 BPM hard techno, the closest to hardcore I have ever been since an old apocryphal mix by Jeff Mills. The tracklist is going to provide me with new material for months.
Friday 31 August 2007
Eminem
As a supplement to the previous Mos Def posting, here's one of the acceptably good clips by Eminem, who wrote some great pages in the book of American white trash hip hop despite the cohorts of WASP zombies who followed his lead.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is also very much fun to watch, use your online video-fetching skills.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is also very much fun to watch, use your online video-fetching skills.
Mos Def
To my own surprise, I am enjoying Mos Def a lot. It all started with this track “Respiration” from the Backstar duo he is part of. Here's my discovery thread, from Steve Reich to Mos Def. “Respiration” appears on Howie B's Another Late Night. Howie B participated to the Reich:Remixed album with DJ Spooky, Ken Ishii, Andrea Parker and more geniuses.
But back to Blackstar:
After that, I decided Mos Def deserved another serious try. So I rushed to his Most Definite best-of album, and there it is: “Ms Fat Booty”. Funny as hell, tends to remind me of Cypress Hill's “Freak Bitch.”
Maybe Mos Def's appearance in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes played a role in my recent interest for the American rapper.
But back to Blackstar:
After that, I decided Mos Def deserved another serious try. So I rushed to his Most Definite best-of album, and there it is: “Ms Fat Booty”. Funny as hell, tends to remind me of Cypress Hill's “Freak Bitch.”
Maybe Mos Def's appearance in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes played a role in my recent interest for the American rapper.
Tuesday 28 August 2007
A look back at Laurent Garnier
Laurent Garnier released an appropriately titled Retrospective album in 2006. This is far more interesting than a best of, insofar as the selection rests, in theory, on the artist's personal favourites instead of the top sales argument.
The album has my favourite Laurent Garnier track, and definitely one that I would include on my imaginary introduction to techno: “Raw Cut”, originally from the album Shot in the Dark. I remember loving this track so much that I could play it backwards (using SoundEdit 16 on my Performa 5400) and still enjoy it. I still play it two or three times in a row when I listen to it.
The live recording on “Man With The Red Face” reminds me the St Germain concert we attended with Am. a few years ago. French techno/house has a lot to offer.
The album has my favourite Laurent Garnier track, and definitely one that I would include on my imaginary introduction to techno: “Raw Cut”, originally from the album Shot in the Dark. I remember loving this track so much that I could play it backwards (using SoundEdit 16 on my Performa 5400) and still enjoy it. I still play it two or three times in a row when I listen to it.
The live recording on “Man With The Red Face” reminds me the St Germain concert we attended with Am. a few years ago. French techno/house has a lot to offer.
Monday 27 August 2007
Max Richter
I just (re)discovered Max Richter. Discovered it on this video (the music comes from his 2006 album). Rediscovered it because I am a huge fan of the Future Sound of London (FSOL), and Max Richter is actually everywhere in their music, producing, playing. He's the piano on FSOL's “Max” from Dead Cities. He also plays the mellotron for Vashti Bunyan; I cannot wait to listen to some of it.
Sometimes I spend months without finding any music that really catches my attention. I am almost sure that I am back on track! The last musician to have this impact on me was Nik Turner (see this post), and this seems to have been ages ago.
Sometimes I spend months without finding any music that really catches my attention. I am almost sure that I am back on track! The last musician to have this impact on me was Nik Turner (see this post), and this seems to have been ages ago.
Front Line Assembly's “Millenium”
Millenium (1994) by Front Line Assembly (FLA) is one of my favourite industrial rock albums.
Too bad there is no music video for its first track, “Vigilante”, which starts with these unforgettable lines:
“Surface Patterns” is one of the best tracks of the album. The vocal “Victim of a Criminal” is probably its weakest.
Too bad there is no music video for its first track, “Vigilante”, which starts with these unforgettable lines:
We are not the same. I'm an American, you're a sick asshole.I wondered where the samples come from. They are from Falling Down (1993), by Joel Schumacher and starring Michael Douglas.
Feels good to exercise your rights, doesn't it? (sound of shootings)
“Surface Patterns” is one of the best tracks of the album. The vocal “Victim of a Criminal” is probably its weakest.
Saturday 18 August 2007
Herzeleid and Band Updates
Herzeleid is a really good resource on all things Rammstein-esque. Its feed sends me the essential news about the band: tours, singles, albums, and important updates on side projects in which Rammstein members take part.
I wish there was a kind of portal somewhere to play the role of Herzeleid for virtually any band, providing a feed with tours and releases. I thought Last.fm was going to provide something close to that, but it did not. Discogs is far from anything that interactive (it is an excellent catalog nonetheless).
I wish there was a kind of portal somewhere to play the role of Herzeleid for virtually any band, providing a feed with tours and releases. I thought Last.fm was going to provide something close to that, but it did not. Discogs is far from anything that interactive (it is an excellent catalog nonetheless).
Friday 17 August 2007
Weekend bootlegs: Soft Machine and Metallica
Two excellent live bootlegs for this weekend:
- The “Hazard Profile” live by Soft Machine, recorded at two different places in the UK. I am listening to this live jointly with the remastered versions of Six and Seven, which do not have Robert Wyatt's imagination, voice and creativity as Soft Machine's first three albums, but which stay very good progressive rock albums.
- The “Sick of Werchter” live by Metallica, recorded in Germany this year. A lot of old classics from Kill'Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All. They even played Orion! I need to say that this live is by far the best live bootleg I have heard from Metallica, and the second best live after the S & M album.
Tuesday 14 August 2007
No Sleep 'til Motörhead
Mötörhead's No Sleep 'til Hammersmith is definitely the best live album I have ever listened to. I feel I am somewhere in the middle of the room during songs like 'Bomber' or 'Mötörhead' -- and right at the front during 'Ace of Spades' and a bunch of others!
Saturday 11 August 2007
Jazz “experts”
Over coffee with a friend-of-a-friend:
”Do you like jazz?”
“– Oh yes, but I'm nothing like a jazz expert”
But there is nothing like a jazz expert. I thought I knew something about jazz, and then I read a bit of Boris Vian's columns for Jazz Hot, and I knew nothing again. I thought I knew a bit of Jimmy Smith, and then I read Robert Wyatt's comment on Mike Ratledge (French interview, Rock & Folk, 1967), saying his work was probably the most innovative since Smith, and I realised that I had missed what now seems so obvious to me.
I do not believe in jazz experts and I am not even sure jazz allows the concept of a jazz expert. In Howard Becker's Outsiders (1963), there are only two types of audience people: those with jazz, and those without (“squares”). And the fact that a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant society allowed for the growth of jazz music must be a proof that no one is condemned to squareness.
”Do you like jazz?”
“– Oh yes, but I'm nothing like a jazz expert”
But there is nothing like a jazz expert. I thought I knew something about jazz, and then I read a bit of Boris Vian's columns for Jazz Hot, and I knew nothing again. I thought I knew a bit of Jimmy Smith, and then I read Robert Wyatt's comment on Mike Ratledge (French interview, Rock & Folk, 1967), saying his work was probably the most innovative since Smith, and I realised that I had missed what now seems so obvious to me.
I do not believe in jazz experts and I am not even sure jazz allows the concept of a jazz expert. In Howard Becker's Outsiders (1963), there are only two types of audience people: those with jazz, and those without (“squares”). And the fact that a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant society allowed for the growth of jazz music must be a proof that no one is condemned to squareness.
Thursday 2 August 2007
Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution by Cleopatra Records (1993) is the best industrial rock selection I have ever listened to. I discovered it by pure chance about ten years ago, as far as I can remember, at my local library.
The trackslisting includes a few jewels that set the path for the rest of industrial music: Einstürzende Neubauten's "Feurio!", Spahn Ranch's "Mind Riot", Throbbing Gristle's "Hot On The Heels Of Love" (I just wish they could include "Zyklon B Zombie" for the sake of contrast), and other classics by Klute and Revolting Cocks. I was pleasantly surprised to find the avant-garde punk track "Third Uncle" by Brian Eno had been included -- in fact, this may have played an important role in me picking up the disc in the first place, along with the weird cover. Sister Machine Gun's "Addiction" is a personal favourite.
The following video for Spahn Ranch's "Locusts" (1995) sets the scene for those of you who do not have a single clue of what industrial music sounds like:
The second CD features some of the most influential tracks I know in industrial rock: Front Line Assembly's "Mindphaser", Kraftwerk's "Metal on Metal" (which describes its epoch better than anything else), Nik Turner's "Thoth" (another personal favourite), and Sleep Chamber's "Beside Dance". Tracks by KMFDM, Ministry and Pressurehed are also there.
The double CD is definitely worth it. It does not seem to be very well known, at least not on the Internet surface. Its underground after-taste probably makes it even more enjoyable.
The trackslisting includes a few jewels that set the path for the rest of industrial music: Einstürzende Neubauten's "Feurio!", Spahn Ranch's "Mind Riot", Throbbing Gristle's "Hot On The Heels Of Love" (I just wish they could include "Zyklon B Zombie" for the sake of contrast), and other classics by Klute and Revolting Cocks. I was pleasantly surprised to find the avant-garde punk track "Third Uncle" by Brian Eno had been included -- in fact, this may have played an important role in me picking up the disc in the first place, along with the weird cover. Sister Machine Gun's "Addiction" is a personal favourite.
The following video for Spahn Ranch's "Locusts" (1995) sets the scene for those of you who do not have a single clue of what industrial music sounds like:
The second CD features some of the most influential tracks I know in industrial rock: Front Line Assembly's "Mindphaser", Kraftwerk's "Metal on Metal" (which describes its epoch better than anything else), Nik Turner's "Thoth" (another personal favourite), and Sleep Chamber's "Beside Dance". Tracks by KMFDM, Ministry and Pressurehed are also there.
The double CD is definitely worth it. It does not seem to be very well known, at least not on the Internet surface. Its underground after-taste probably makes it even more enjoyable.
Wednesday 1 August 2007
A Japanese take on techno
Here's an interesting take on techno by a Japanese guy.
The tracklisting is very interesting. I realise that I know more about underground techno than expected! I particularly recommend the following: classics from Jeff Mills and Underground Resistance; Joris Voorn; and of course the remarkable Takkyu Ishino that opens Part 2. Ken Ishii also has an interesting record.
The tracklisting is very interesting. I realise that I know more about underground techno than expected! I particularly recommend the following: classics from Jeff Mills and Underground Resistance; Joris Voorn; and of course the remarkable Takkyu Ishino that opens Part 2. Ken Ishii also has an interesting record.
Introducing Hydragroon
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