*ALWAYSONTHEBRINK*

This one’s crazy sounding.  Microhouse producer Akufen managed to make a microsampled dance album sound like desperately twisting a radio tuner’s knobs same as you would  to crack into some Baskin & Robbin’s office safe.  I first heard Akufen’s first album ‘My Way’ in the now closed Burniside O Zone Records, being played by E*Rock, who i think worked there at the time.  Anyway i had to buy it when i heard it. Its a bit older(2002) but its fucked up and worth re-reporting?  The mastering and kits to me sounds Northern European but i guess Akufen is from Montreal Canada and his real name is Marc Leclair.  He did sample FM stations to make his first album. Its dope/insane.  Just please listen to this one in your headphones, its stereoed the fuck out. Like a clear plastic produce bag being wrapped  around your gad-damn head.  ; P

Akufen - Even white horizons

Akufen - Wet floors

Akufen - Jeep sex

Akufen - My way

Old World

I have a musical project I’ve been working on lately a lot called Old World. It’s all me in my room with a bunch of clutter and mind altering substances. There’s not really a huge common sonic theme, although I’m limited by my means and overall I would say is a blend of psych-folk and disco. Here are two recent tracks I’ve finished. One is pretty uptempo dance and the other is a remix I did of local new disco band Chromatics and is a bit more mellow.

Old World - Children Of The Night

Chromatics - In The City (Old World Remix)

HERE is my myspace page as well which has a bunch more songs as well as some free mixes. Hope you like the sounds!

When I was a kid every Sunday I would stay up late to watch 120 Minutes and AMP on MTV. I remember at the time a lot of videos for electronic music were just bad computer animation. This video however, was fucked beyond belief. I remember the first time I saw it, one night I couldn’t make it to AMP and ended up passing out early, only to wake up about a half hour later to this video with pure terror. The sound of the music was so foreign and cold to me at that time, such a young age. I saw the video quite a few times after that and it always gave me the spooks. Me and my brother (who saw it many times also) would bring it up over the years but never saw it again after AMP went off. Now, thanks to youtube, it’s back in my life. Of course it’s not as scary now as it was back then, but it still brings back dark memories.

D.H.S. - The House Of God (Youtube link)

These tracks are easier going tracks, but  still housey.  I have to do this because there is little worse than trying to listen to all the Electro and Banger shit when hung over.  These are great tunes that are easy to on the ears for the hung over oldschool house listener:

GANG - K.K.K

this German Italio dub? mix track is the friendliest ever!  Its got its arm around your shoulder, hugging you.  Its motto is a friend in need is a friend indeed.  (why is it called KKK?)

JUS ED - AM Mix

This one is a Deep Deeeeeep smooth house track.  The lead synthesizer melody in the middle just says ‘get well soon’.  The pads in the background actually heal you!.  I love the Percussion. check out JUS-ED.

MARK DU MOSCH - Multiculti

this track is soo nice.   What i think to be his best track hes ever made.  The first half helps you get out of bed, so you can plan your mental lists. Near the end it changes entirely putting the listener on a voyage via sailboat bouncing through the breakers straight to the stratosphere!  The track leaves you only wanting more but maybe its best like that.  Mark Du Mosch is one my favorites..

Wladimer M - Goin’ South

High tempo but soft. Reminds me of the illusionary beach on the movie Contact.  voice, and whistle synths follow making some of the most unforgettable melodies.  The track climaxes near the middle, leaving the listener salivating to the complete hypnotic harmonious bliss

Swayzak - Loops From the Bergrie -  Bergerie

Swayzak has always rocked with their always simple libraries and noises, yet effective talent.  This particular track reminds me of rising early and starting the day right.  Get up on the right side of the bed with this one.

Swayzak - Loops From the Bergrie -  Bergerie SLOW VERSION

Well, as i posted in my first post i like slowing down certain tracks.  With this slowed track, its not just starting the day early.  Its the sun rising up slowly over the eastern horizon, the city skyline turning from reddish to full color and society all starting work together.

SO BASICALLY  i wanted to make a long winded post about this the absolute awesomeness of this track,  then post another track that would be similar in name and/or sound, but its just not happening.  I find this song too unique i guess… Instead I’m only posting a youtube video for the original song…. if i ever figure out how…  i found this track so addictive and hypnotic.  To me it sounds so optimistic and curious, like there’s some big puzzle to solve with the way the melody plays with the listener’s head.

Droids - The Force (SSUK - EDIT)

Droids - The Force (original) YouTube video

This is pretty much how it is in my recording studio too.

About two years ago I was living on the outskirts of town (if you’re a Portlander you know what “past 82nd” means) in a house I was renting from my dad, which also happened to be the house I spent my early childhood in. It had a great basement where I had all my recording gear and records set up. For a few months Nafie would come by fairly often and we would hang out all night and listen to records, drink an 18-pack of Budweiser, and blast my fog machine. We were mostly playing a lot of Italo and Disco. Here were our undisputed top three of that era, songs that remain huge classics for us:

Advance - Take Me To The Top

Advance was Alvaro Ugolini and Dario Raimondi who are most famous for producing Fun Fun. The singing on this song is by Ivana Spagna who was one half of Fun Fun. This is the only song as far as I know that they did under the name Advance, and it’s a serious 80’s Italian funk jam.

Musique - Summer Love

This is a Patrick Adams classic that features amazing strings and a young Jocelyn Brown. Also in the group of note was Christine Wiltshire who sang lead vocals on Weekend by Phreek then later by Class Action, and was part of Alphonse Mouzon’s Poussez!

Tammie Lee - Sky High

This was her only song as far as I can tell, it’s a cover of the very English soft rock/funk band jigsaw. It’s produced by Stefano Zito who also produced Blackway and a few other italo gems. The song has a nice moody feeling I think and I much prefer it to the just got castrated sounding Jigsaw.

Spring House

In light of the coming spring, I thought I’d post some springy time house from a long time German producer know as Mijk Van Dijk.  I bought this record maybe two years ago and never bothered researching him until a few days ago.  I found that he’s one of Berlin’s pioneers of techno and trance and has a huge catalogue of kick ass releases.  He plays live using real gear, no laptop and moves like a worm on meth twisting nobs, and triggering sequences.  If you check him out on youtube you can see that he’s truly into the music. High on Hope, originaly released in 1992 was one of his first big hits.  In 2007 he released a new version of High on Hope along with an alternate mix and some remixes.  This track sounds like popping open an ice cold can of squirt on a beautiful spring day. Enjoy!

High On Hope (1992\’s Long Hot Summer Mix).mp3

High On Hope (Mijk Van Dijk’s 2007 version).mp3

About two years ago around this time of year i was living with a bunch of burrito-eaters (who probably possessed about as much ambition as me) in this shitty house atop a clinic and next to 24 hour burger joint.  We were all sure we would never live in that house for long, so we never invested in anything nice around the house even though we stayed 3 years. The result was this shitty-ass house that seemed to suck the life out of you the longer you stayed inside it.   As long as you stayed inside you didn’t want to leave but felt all tired and moody.  I remember there was this one month though where all my roommates left to go on vacation in Thailand for one month leaving me as the sole(soul) host for this parasitic house to prey on.  During this time i had no outlook on my future and took a lot of Vicondin and drank white wine for no good reason.  During my month alone inside this beast i started listening to Italo for the first time and Chicago house for some reason.  I listened mostly to this internet radio station (now dead) called the ‘cybernetic broadcasting system’.  I also had some bizarre fascination with number stations until i found the station with the backwards fucked up voice…

Here’s some tracks i find most nostalgic from my most isolated of days

BFC - Chicken Noodle Soup

Blackway - Newlife

Capracara - Flashback 86

Ivan - Fotonovela

Polarius - Hey Bartello

Rick Felix - Insane

Urban Tribe - Zombie Assault

Zuul

Etbonz a while back recommended i check out Orlando Voorn’s music, and  I was so very pleased.  I hadn’t listened to anything remotely techno is some time and found it pleasantly refreshing.  Its nice to know people are still making old school Detroit techno as American as apple pie.  In the 80’s Voorn used to be a part of Model 500, which included Juan Atkins king of techno and electro.

The Voorn’s Remix of his and Atikin’s early work named Game one by Infiniti is quite stunning, haunting, isolated, modernized and of course soaked in futurism.  Lovebreak, and Smooth are made under Voor’ns alias, ‘Basic Bastard’ and are both tech-deep-house tracks.  I find them to be so soulful, smooth, authentic.   Elements almost always lacking in the European techno,  Detroit’s E-tarded step child.  The track ‘Yes we can’ uses loops of  crowd cheering and samples from President Barack Obama. Its hard hitting and very techno in sound.  Basically his stuff is all golden.

Orlando Voorn - Lovebreak

Orlando Voorn - Smooth

Infiniti - Game One (Orlando Voorn remix)

Orlando Voorn - Yes We Can!

FUCK THESE BLINDS

Here’s an edit of DJ off of the Lodger album. It’s always been a favorite of mine but impossible to mix. I kept this pretty subtle, no radical changes.