Cluster: Sowiesoso

CLUSTER is a duo formed by Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. They were one of the best krautrock ensembles ever, in my humble opinion, and together they created a sound incredibly mellow.

In this 1976 album -my favourite one, by the way- they use very child-like and minimalist melodies, made up of keyboard progressions and electronic effects (if you have appreciated LULLATONE you will probably also like the last song in here, a very musical-box-like, "In ewigkeit", a slow and tender lullaby).

It is also not avaible anymore (on Amazon a used copy is on sale at 49,50 $ !), so take advantage of this!

For more INFO:

A CLUSTER biography (in italian and english) at

http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/cluster.html

An overview on CLUSTER's discography at

http://www.krautrockgroup.com/Cluster.html

A quite extended story of CLUSTER at

http://www.thing.de/delektro/cluhist.html

And here is the DOWNLOAD:

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=3PBUJHGT

CAN: DVD audio CD

CAN are probably the most famous german band in the world (after KRAFTWERK), and one of the best from the so-called Krautrock, i.e. the german "underground" rock of the 70's.

They (Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, and Jaki Liebezeit) formed in 1968, with american singer Malcom Mooney, who left after a couple of years, and then Damo Suzuky -a japanese kind of beatnik- joined in in his stead.

Their unique sound was shaped by always trying (as you can see on their DVD) to de-humanise their music, to avoid any connections with everything but music. Improvisation and post-production (whole albums were assembled putting together different improvisations, like the second half of "Tago Mago" shows) and so their concerts were mostly about improvisation too, an improvisation without any reference to a tune or whatsoever. They were only interested in rhythm. In fact if you listen to Tago Mago (1971), often considered their masterpiece, you'll see that some tracks seem to sound like drum 'n' bass.

They were always ahead of their time: electronics, ambient, progressive and psychedlic rock, avantgarde classical music, world music...they all sooner or later became ingredients of their recipe. A lot of nowadays post rockers (first of all TORTOISE) surely learned a lot from CAN.

About 2 years ago CAN released a magnificent DVD (http://www.spoonrecords.com/disco/dvd.html), with a documentary, a concert, and lots more of interesting stuff. Now it has been re-released, but without the audio CD that contained several tracks from the band members' solo careers. So, I'm going to do a big favour to those of you who want to buy the DVD (wich IS worth the money), but cannot have the audio CD anymore, by posting it here.

INFO

Their official website: http://www.spoonrecords.com/index.html

And this is the TRACKLIST:

-Irmin Schmidt & Kumo:

1 Goatfooted Balloonman 6:10
2 Fledermenschen (Live) 6:29
3 Las Plumas del Búho 8:14
-Jaki Liebezeit & Burnt Friedman:
4 Rhein Rauf 6:27
-Jaki Liebezeit & Drums Off:
5 Chaos On a Can 4:29
6 Velociraptor (Live) 5:33
-Holger Czukay & U-She:
7 Solitary Life (Live) 2:43
8 Time and Tide (Live) 4:04
9 Cruise (Live) 3:57
10 Sunday Morning (Live) 3:59
-Michael Karoli & Sofortkontakt!:
11 Lumpy Todda (Live) 4:09
12 Pounding Venus (Live) 5:19
13 Research Has Shown... (Live) 6:02

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=NJ0BWDWE

Gel: -1

For those who have appreciated LULLATONE, SORA, and other japanese electronic music I have posted, here is some more. Except that GEL is not japanese. He is french (and you can clearly get it by looking at his picture right here) and his real name is Julien Loquet, but he is published by Plop Records (http://www.inpartmaint.com/plop/e/home_e.html) as well as the other artists named above, and he plays electroacoustic/glitch stuff too.

This one is from 2003.

Enjoy.

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=K5L1CSK4

Re-post: Damon Albarn - Democrazy

Here is DEMOCRAZY'S re-post (for 7 more days!)

Democrazy.zip (41470 KB)

The Go-Betweens: Botany sessions

At last I upload one of my favourite bands: THE GO-BETWEENS. Australian born, but with a very british pop appeal: they split in 1989 after their beautiful "16 Lovers lane", only to reunite 11 years later, and by now they've recorded three more albums.

So, what you could find here is a bit of a gem for fans : the so-called "Botany sessions", i.e. the sessions for what had to be the following to "16 Lovers Lane" but never was.

The first (and longer) part is acoustic, with the only Forster and McLennan.

Official site: http://www.go-betweens.net/

For more info (and some video too):

http://www.beggars.com/us/gobetweens/

For interviews: http://members.ol.com.au/rgriffin/GoBetweens/

CD.1 duo session

1. Danger In The Past

2. Easy Comes Easy Goes

3. Broadway Bride

4. I Love You Still

5. What You Call Change

6. Open Invitation

7. Dream About Tomorrow

8. I've Been Looking For Somebody (cut)

9. Haunted House

10. Sally's Revolution

11. Just Get That Straight

12. Running The Risk Of Loosing You

13. It Had To Be Me

14. Signs Of Life

15. Nowhere By Any Other Name

16. The Man Who Dies In Rapture

17. House Of Snakes

18. Danger In The Past

19. The River People

20. I've Been Looking For Somebody

CD.2 band session

21. Drop

22. Making

It Right For Her

23. Just Get That Straight

24. She's So Strange

25. I Know What Its Like Without You

26. Stones For You

27. When Word Gets Around

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=D00J2IBY

Radiohead: more acoustic

Yeah, another session of acoustic songs from RADIOHEAD: this time a more recent one (circa after "Hail to the thief). Listen to this version of "Karma police"! It's really worth it.

1 Intro
2 I might be wrong
3 Sail to the moon
4 Go to sleep (false start)
5 Go to sleep
6 No surprises (false start)
7 No surprises
8I will
9 There there
10Everything in its right place
11 Karma police

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=WAZ7E6QR

Damon Albarn: Democrazy

This solo record by BLUR's (and GORILLAZ's) DAMON ALBARN is something of a curiosity. Edited only as vynil and on a very limited edition (about six or seven thoven thousand copies, as far as I recall) it's an insight to his music writing: all songs are recorded lo-fi on a 4-track and are often sketches of what could be a song.

Nonetheless it is possible to find in it some tunes that are are worth Albarn's name (specially if you are fond of his work with Gorillaz).

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=ICRLLJ2H

Do cd-rs have a short life span? 2

Now I've found something more about it on the web about cd-rs:

on this forum:

http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=289714

The general opinion is that what the IBM man says it's bollocks, but I still have some doubts about it...(or am I incurably pessimistic?). And you?

Do cd-rs have a short life span?

Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland:

"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," (...)

See the rest of it on:

http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124312,00.asp?GT1=7645

and tell me what you think about it.

A bit worried? (By the way, I think the man is a bit exaggerating: I have some cd-rs that are 5 years old and still work, but, I also have one that has some problems and I've heard a friend of mine saying that he had some problems with a couple of his old ones too...maybe they can last more than five years but surely not forever. Angy with the so-called hi-tech companies? I am).

Radiohead: Acoustic

Here comes a nice collection of acoustic performances from the Radiohead: lights on the very rare voice and acoustic guitar only "Motion Picture Soundtrack"(and whey they make fun of Oasis' "Wonderwall")

I'd say that mostly are from The Bends-OK Computer period.

1. killer cars
2. wonderwall
3. blow out
4. street spirit
5. lucky
6. high and dry
7. motion picture soundtrack
8. fake plastic trees
9. black star
10. street spirit
11. subterranean homesick alien
12. thinking about you
13. creep
14. just
15. lozenge of love
16. bulletproof
17. killer cars
18. banana co.
19. yes I am
20. airbag
21. fake plastic trees
    

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=O6DL1XHM

Il Muccchio Selvaggio

L'altroieri ho aggiunto ai link quello del Mucchio Selvaggio e credo valga la pena spiegare perché l'ho fatto.

Per quelli tra voi (pochi, me ne rendo conto) che sono italiani e si sono avvicinati al mio blog apprezzando la musica di cui parlo e posto, e ogni tanto avranno -chissà- magari dato anche un'occhiata ai link e ad alcuni post non-musicali (non molti finora, cercherò di fare meglio in futuro) potrebbero apprezzare anche "Il Mucchio Selvaggio", che da molto tempo è uno dei miei punti di riferimento per quanto riguardi musica, cultura e politica.

Si tratta di un mensile musicale nato più di 25 anni fa e che negli ultimi ha cercato di toccare altri argomenti e di approfondire tematiche sociali e politiche italiane.

Ad esempio con articoli sulla mucca pazza, ma anche sulla P2, sulla Mafia, su Berlusconi, avvalendosi di collaboratori di alto livello come Riccardo Bertoncelli (http://www.festivaletteratura.it/archivio/schedaautore.php?autid=167), Massimo del Papa (di cui trovate il link per il suo blog qui a fianco), e Andrea Scanzi ( http://www.andreascanzi.it/), ed ospitando interviste di personaggi come Daniele Luttazzi, Gherardo Colombo, Enio Morricone, solo per citarne alcuni.

Insomma, se vi piace questo blog è anchemerito loro e quindi pago qui il mio debito di riconoscenza.

E se vi piace il mio blog provate a dare un'occhiata in edicola al Mucchio (e al loro sito, appena rinnovato, ci sono anche dei biglietti per concerti in varie zone d'italia in palio attraverso un concorso).

Grazie.

Radiohead: On a friday

Before choosing the name RADIOHEAD (after a TALKING HEADS song from "True stories" the band was called On A Friday -because they used to rehearse on fridays). These demos -circa 1991- were recorded before they changed their name and before they signed to EMI.

It is a very bizzare collection of songs by the way: it starts with classic rock songs (the Pablo Honey kind of thing), but it goes on with trip-hop and dance-influenced tracks (see "The new generation", or "Something to hate" where Yorke sounds like...Tricky!) with loops, drum machines and such.

Click on the single track to know more about it (it's a link to Radiohead At Ease Website).

1. keep strong

2. somebody else

3. i want to know

4. i'm coming up

5. jerusalem

6. what is that you say

7. something to hate

8. i can't

9. without you

10. give it up

11. how can you be sure

12. everybody lies through their teeth

13. rattlesnake in the big city

14. the new generation

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YR62ETTU

Lost Lennon Tapes

On the web it is possible to find several "lost Lennon tapes" and here are some.

Mostly are primitive acoustic versions (or exerpts) of songs for his solo career (but there is also a "He said he said" which is the acoustic mother of THE BEATLES' "Sha said she said") and beautiful sung piano-and-voice-only "Free as a bird" and "Real love", later re-arranged by the other Beatles for "The Beatles anthology".

And don't worry: soon you'll have more Lost Lennon Tapes soon!

1-Cathy's clown
2-Don't be crazy
3-Don't let me down
4-Everybody
5-Free as a bird
6-Happiness is a warm gun
7-He said he said
8-Heatbeat
9-Honky tonk blues
10-Howling at the moon
11-I'll make you happy
12-I'm crazy
13-Interviews ("More popular than Jesus...")
14-My sweet lord
15-Rave on
16-Real love
17-Strwberry fields forever
18-Tell me what I say
19-The best things in life are free
20-Walls and bridges interview
21-You send me


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GZJWSS3D

Sora: Re.Sort

If you have liked the LULLATONES you sure will appreciate SORA, aka Takeshi Kurosawa, whose music is almost as delicate as the (other) japanese electronic band. Probably even more beautiful. So, listen to all these microbeats mixed with music-box-like harmonies, minimalism and (in the seventh track) also some jazz.

Tell me if you think about it. I find it mellow.

For more info: http://homepage.mac.com/s_ra/

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T2WLSE39

Mazzy Star: The other side

Once were the RAIN PARADE. Then David Roback left and split the band. And then came MAZZY STAR. They made three marvellous and dark albums before the singer, Hope Sandoval, left for a solo career.

This one here, THE OTHER SIDE is an unofficial album made up of live track and b-sides.

For more see http://www.mazzystar.nu/

1. Fade Into You (Live)
2. Ride It On (Live Acoustic)
3. Sometimes Always (Live)
4. I'm Gonna Bake My Biscuit
5. Under My Car
6. Tell Me Now
7. Hair and Skin
8. Tell Your Honey
9. Had a Thought
10. Flowers in December
11. Sometimes Always
12. Ride It On (Live)
13. Ghost Highway (Live)
14. Blue Light (Live)
15. Into Dust (Live)
16. Bells Ring (Acoustic)

http://www.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34584

Lullatone: My petit melodies

Here is the second album from the japanese LULLATONE. Some tracks are a bit harder to listen to than in the other two, but still a good one.

For more about them see

http://www.lullatone.com/

http://rapidshare.de/files/10285330/My_petit_melodies.zip.html

Re-post: The Beatles-Alternate Abbey road

Here is the re-post of the outtakes to Abbey Road. For more details see the orginal post (of some days ago).


http://z15.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=15609