Sounds from Innerspace

Trollheart · 06-14-2015, 02:52 PM

innerspaceboy · 06-16-2015, 05:16 PM

I've been quiet for the past few weeks, what with all the doin's a-transpiring, but quite recently I've made a pledge to be a little more active and decided upon a project.

I've got shelves and shelves of killer records, each milestones in their own right, but haven't quite the time to draft an article for each one. So, for as long as it lasts, I'm going to feature an album (or small collections of albums) each day with a just few words about them.

Where better to begin than my questionably-healthy obsession with ambient house music?

There are a few key recordings in the world of ambient house. Records like The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (featuring the hit, "Little Fluffy Clouds"), and the 40:00 "Blue Room" single - the longest single ever to reach the UK charts.

Another highlight from The Orb's catalog is Metallic Spheres - the glorious collaboration of The Orb, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and Killing Joke bassist Youth.

Excellently mastered, pressed on heavy audiophile-grade vinyl and in an ultra-glossy gatefold jacket with fold-out poster and download code for an exclusive alternate mix.

This record is a dream come true.

And you can't talk about The Orb without addressing Paterson's first recordings with the legendary KLF.

"3AM Eternal", "Justified & Ancient", and "Doctorin' the Tardis" are staple singles from The KLF. I'm holding out for a picture disc import of "America: What Time Is Love?" to complete The Stadium House Trilogy.

Space by Space is a 1990 ambient house concept album by Jimmy Cauty and Alex Paterson and was originally intended to be The Orb's debut album.

And last but certainly not least, also pictured about is Chill Out - the ultimate ambient house LP. It portrays a mythical night-time journey up the US Gulf Coast from Texas into Louisiana following a weekend rave.

I ordered a VG+ copy of the highly sought-after Chill Out from the UK on Discogs only to learn that it was destroyed at US Customs. The seller was so cool, he sent me his mint first press (pictured) at no additional charge.

"This is what the KLF is about."

And for KLF fans looking for exceptional rare material, I highly recommend The KLF: Recovered & Remastered KLF MINUS-SIX unofficial album. "This Is Not What Space Is About" is a monumental unofficial rework of Space, transforming it into an epic drone album.

Each copy was personalized with the owners name and I was lucky to secure a copy for my library. Check it out!

Plankton · 06-17-2015, 01:59 PM

I've put "Little Fluffy Clouds" on many mix CD's. I need to check out that whole album.

innerspaceboy · 06-17-2015, 05:59 PM

Today's featured LP - TONTO's Expanding Head Band. (1975 Atlantic issue of the Zero Time Embryo LP from '71)

"The Original New Timbral Orchestra," is the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world.

For those not familiar with this marvelous behemoth, you've heard it before, on Stevie Wonder's records from Electric Lady Studios, (most notably on "Superstition") as well as albums by Quincy Jones, Bobby Womack, The Isley Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron, Weather Report, Steve Stills, The Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason, Little Feat and Joan Baez (just to name a few!)

Pictured below are a few of the records which feature TONTO, including the soundtrack to Brian Depalma's cult film, The Phantom of the Paradise."
It took writing this post for me to discover that so many of the records on my shelves were touched by this synth - so THANK YOU!

And here's a lovely documentary excerpt all about TONTO. Enjoy!

innerspaceboy · 06-19-2015, 05:43 PM

Today's featured classic album is one that needs no introduction. Pictured below is a mint sealed copy of Elliott Smith's Either/Or. This is a 1997 Kill Rock Stars first pressing.

I found it at a Goodwill in amidst a pile of Christmas records for 99 cents.

Once it a while, digging really pays off.

innerspaceboy · 06-20-2015, 01:02 PM

Ten years since their last album on the Kompakt label, The Orb returns to Kompakt this month with their 13th album, Moonbuilding 2703 AD.

The Orb - Thomas Fehlmann and Alex Paterson

Moonbuilding is hypnotic, engaging, and endlessly fascinating. There is an ever-shifting spatial environment as an assortment of deep beats, dub rhythms, and indescribable microtonal sounds traverse the space between your ears. There are no hooks or identifiable refrains on which a more passive listener could settle comfortably. Instead the record is a cerebral adventure, whether you choose to explore it consciously and critically or just lose yourself in the entrancing future-tribal magic.

The pending Moonbuilding 2703 AD

Like all of The Orb's albums, it is thoughtful and reflective, but there are no peaceful, ambient epics to be found on Moonbuilding. Still, the record does retain Paterson's trademark natural, analog warmth. Even his most cosmic and interstellar tracks have always maintained an organic quality sorely missing from much of the bleep-bloop techno of the last few decades. Similar percussion is present on their newest album, though the wide-eyed energy of the LP is measurably greater than on any of their previous recordings.

But make no mistake about it - at no point does this approach hi-nrg 4-on-the-floor frat techno. This is an immensely atmospheric record, rich with subtleties and nuances which make repeated listenings most rewarding. This is, at its heart, proper German electronic music. Thomas Fehlmann's contributions are clearly evident as are all the influences of his present home city of Berlin. If a listener is curious how The Berlin School of the late 1970s has evolved to the present day, the track "Lunar Caves" answers the question perfectly.

"Caves" is where Paterson's work is most evident. The song is guided more by classic, dub-inspired ambient rhythms than by heavy percussion and there is a brief but definite nod to Aphex Twin which fans will instantly detect. If you've any doubt that The Orb is ideal for heady headphone listening, you'd do well to remember that this is the band who played chess live(!) on Top of the Pops for "The Blue Room" in 1992.

"Live" performance of "The Blue Room" on Top of the Pops, 1992

In all, Moonbuilding 2703 AD marks a triumphant return for The Orb to the Kompakt label and demonstrates that these old boys still have what it takes to make outstanding and fresh new music.

The album is set for release June 23rd and available for preorder at kompakt.fm, as well as a 3LP+CD expanded edition which features a tribute to J Dilla.

innerspaceboy · 06-21-2015, 06:51 AM

Had a blast at the local Vinylmania record show! I went to the event hoping to get some Klaus Schulze LPs (but honestly not expecting to find any). I was blown away that one killer table hooked me up with several of his albums on the Brain label, all in fantastic condition!

Also took home The Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Sessions, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy LP, and J.R.R. Tolkien Reads The Lord of the Rings (all from that same table.)

The best bit is that I didn't have to shell out shipping from Germany for each one of these individually like I do with most Brain LPs. Made me very happy (and it's my birthday... so yay for me!)

innerspaceboy · 06-21-2015, 05:46 PM

Birthday gift by mail! This on the day of official publication - Steven Witt's How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy.

This will make for PERFECT summer reading on my birthday vacation this week!

innerspaceboy · 06-22-2015, 09:34 PM

Thrilled to have received my copy of Stephen Witt’s How Music Got Free in the post on its date of official publication, I made myself comfortable, put on a full pot of coffee, and eagerly dove into what I anticipated would be a fast-favorite addition to my library.

The book quickly settles into an exciting rhythm – its chapters circling around the activities of key figures in the story of the music industry and of music piracy in the last thirty years. It begins with the struggle of Karlheinz Brandenburg to develop his MP3 audio compression format over twelve years of fine-tuning and a constant battle for acknowledgment by a fiercely competitive industry.

The action then jumps to a few seemingly inconsequential men working at the PolyGram compact disc manufacturing plant in North Carolina – an unsuspecting locale for the most pivotal characters in the end of an industry.

A chapter later, we are privy to private exchanges between the newly-appointed CEO of Warner Music and his fellow overseers of the empire. As the story unfolds, we follow these figures through label acquisitions and purges, through major shifts in industrial policy, through aimless crackdowns on “pirates” including the elderly, the deceased, and a 12-year-old girl who’d downloaded the theme song to Family Matters.

As these individual stories progress, the reader develops an in-depth perspective of the tumultuous end of an era for recorded music. The author offers an astoundingly detailed account of the lives and conversations of core members of the Rabid Neurosis warez group and their suppliers. The storytelling is exciting, calculated, and fast-paced. In elegant Hollywood style, each chapter leaves one scene at a critical cliffhanger to pick up at a similar point of action from another of the sub-plots in the puzzle that was turn-of-the-century music.

I read How Music Got Free eyes wide from cover to cover, captured by every thrilling twist in the tale. What could have been a dry and drab account of compression algorithms and legalities is instead an action-packed saga of a dangerous underground organization where anonymity is critical and risk is always high.

The book also explores the advent of the iPod and the birth and death of numerous filesharing services like Kazaa, Grokster, Limewire, Bearshare, the rise and fall of TPB, and Oink, as well as a few contemporary players I’d never expected to see named in print.

The ending is incredibly satisfying, and even evokes a strong sense of emotion and empathy in the reader – yet another surprise I hadn’t anticipated from a text on piracy. Witt’s book is a fascinating read and adds a much-needed perspective to a story which is still being played out before our eyes. This is easily my favorite title of the year.

innerspaceboy · 06-23-2015, 06:38 PM

Today's feature - a few of my favorite Ninja Tune label releases and other records with a nu-jazz air about them.

Cinematic Orchestra's Motion is a magnificent and atmospheric record. Their work is an excellent blend of live jazz improvisation and downtempo electronica.

DJ Food's Kaleidoscope is the best of his earlier works and features Ken Nordine doing his trademark jazzy spoken word routine.

DJ Food & Amorphous Androgynous's The Illectrik Hoax is an energetic and electrically-charged work of 60s psychedelia blended with turn-of-the-century turntablism - a really unique piece.

St Germain's Tourist is a modern nu-jazz classic on the Blue Note label. Highlights include "Rose Rouge" and "So Flute".

Bonobo's Black Sands is the favorite of the set - a brilliant and cohesive collection of downtempo, jazz-tinged mood music which is equally enjoyable in the foreground or as a sonic wallpaper.

And Skalpel's self-titled record is another highlight from the Ninja Tune label. Skalpel seamlessly blends loops of various Polish jazz unknowns into a classy and enjoyable record - the sort of sound you'd expect to hear in a hip cafe in Ibiza circa 2004. But the album has stood the test of the decade since and still sounds fresh and lively today.

06-14-2015, 02:52 PM	#91 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

06-17-2015, 01:59 PM	#93 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,765	I've put "Little Fluffy Clouds" on many mix CD's. I need to check out that whole album. __________________ See location...