I-F (VARIOUS ARTISTS) - MIXED UP IN THE HAGUE VOL. 01 (2000)

THE MOST IMPORTANT ITALO-DISCO LESSON TO LEARN
ARTIST`````I-F
ALBUM`````MIXED UP IN THE HAGUE VOL. 01
GENRE`````ELECTRO, ITALO-DISCO, EARLY TECHNO
YEAR````````2000

REVIEW BY JOHN BUSH:
I-f's Mixed Up in the Hague is an excellent dance-history lesson focusing on the electro-disco that's been such an influence on his productions. Wisely avoiding most of the endlessly compiled electro classics ("Planet Rock," "Rockit," "Clear") that tend to bore advanced listeners, I-f instead looks back to the motorized sequencer disco of the late '70s and early '80s with a parade of excellent obscurities. (Featuring track titles but no list of performers is undoubtedly not an oversight but a challenge to potential trainspotters out there.)

REVIEW BY BOOMKAT.COM:
I-F's 'Mixed Up In The Hague Vol. 1' - an uber-limited reissue of a record that is widely credited as being the best Italo/Electro mix of the past decade and accordingly changes hands for the kind of £££ that makes your eyes water despite it only ever being released on measly CDR. A crafty adjunct of the Parallax Corporation, I-F's legendary mix is a masterclass in the art of mixing, taking the blueprint as classic Italio-disco and the golden-age of European electro.

I-F capitalises on his keen ear by constructing a mix so intuitive it'll have you wondering how two decks and a mixer can sound so damn good. Great fun, a big recommendation.

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ASTRO CAN CARAVAN - 21st CENTURY DRIFTING EPISODE (2005)

FINLAND'S BIG BAND SPACE ROCK
ARTIST`````ASTRO CAN CARAVAN
ALBUM`````21st CENTURY DRIFTING EPISODE
GENRE`````BIG BAND, PSY-JAZZ, INSTRUMENTAL, EXPERIMENTAL
YEAR````````2005

ABOUT (FROM AURAL):
Highly experimental, with one foot solidly in the RIO camp and the other in outer space, Astro Can Caravan is an unconventional mix of large ensemble post-Sun Ra cosmic jazz, Magma-influenced Euro-fusion and Herbie Hancock/Miles Davis-styled avant-jazz funk. The 20 members of ACC (most of whom are apparently Finnish) all display a consummate musicianship and a keen awareness of the intricacies of ensemble playing throughout the ten tracks on 21st Century Drifting Episode, and in the process virtually create a new sub-genre one might call "big band space rock."

Imagine if Sun Ra's Arkestra were composed of members of Amon Duul II and Can - 21st Century Drifting Episode is the kind of album he would've done.

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ANDERS ILAR - LUDWIJKA - EXTENDED VISIT (2006)

UNDER OUR RUGS
ARTIST`````ANDERS ILAR
ALBUM`````LUDWIJKA - EXTENDED VISIT
GENRE`````IDM, MICRO, GLITCH, EXPERIMENTAL
YEAR````````2006

WHY? BY ME
The glitch-IDM scene used to be a kind of an experimental, elitist field in which electronic music makers showed their skills in achieving a functional composition with a minimal set of sounds. Nowadays, as usual, it grew into a huge scene of crap, piss and an occasional good record. Sweden based artist Anders Ilar made a really good record and what separates it from the today's rest and from the past are his fine skills in producing details, full sound and especially his gentle but melting bass lines that can heal your speakers. He is most definetly not Murcof, but he has a crouching layer of quality that many IDM "artists" dream of while being stuck inside this basically quite narrow sub-genre.

If you liked this you should like this one.

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EARTHLESS - RHYTHMS FROM A COSMIC SKY (2007)

NEW LEVEL OF PRIME STONER PSY ROCK JAM
ARTIST`````EARTHLESS
ALBUM`````RHYTHMS FROM A COSMIC SKY
GENRE`````STONER , ACID ROCK-METAL,
YEAR````````2007

PRAISES BY THOM JUREK:
They jam as Jimi Hendrix jammed, as Cream and Free and even Humble Pie jammed when they took it outside. But Earthless are always outside. They literally enter the sonic maelstrom of inspiration and free flowing, molten, deeply emotional energy where most felt it was at its peak, and they go up from there, moving into dusted rock realms not even dreamed of by the current jam band crew, the stoners or the droners, or even the heaviest of the doomers. They could hang with the most progressive of the metal bands around if they wanted to, but it's not in their credo. They don't see how long they can extend a chord; instead they see how many notes can fit into one, and how groove-oriented a tripped-out riff can get.



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