Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sundaze (19)

Hello, Sundaze without Terence McKenna, i admit it's a hole and i haven't really decided where to go from here. That said, there's always music around, so today we have two albums. First up the Aphex Twin, (find other work from him at Rhotation 22 and 23 over at Rho-Xs), here today his first album, a collection of works that got great reviews, Second up ..Ulver, deep thoughts and emotions find expression in The Shadows Of The Sun...gets that sundaze going for sure

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Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 ( 92 ^ 145mb)

Richard David James ( August 18, 1971) grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, England, enjoying, along with two older sisters a "very happy" childhood during which they, according to James, "were pretty much left to do what they wanted. He liked growing up there (near Lands end), being cut off from the city and the rest of the world.

As a child he experimented on the strings and hammers of the family piano. According to Benjamin Middleton, James started producing music at the age of 12. As a teenager he DJ ed at the Shire Horse in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock, and also along the numerous beaches around Cornwall. From age 16 to 18 James studied for a National Diploma in Engineering from 1988 to 1990 in Cornwall College. James describing his course said "music and electronics went hand in hand".

Richard James's first record was the 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath released as AFX, the track "En Trance to Exit" was made with Tom Middleton aka Schizophrenia. In 1991 James formed Rephlex Records with his friend Grant Wilson-Claridge to promote: "Innovation in the dynamics of Acid - Between 1991 and 1993, James released two Analogue Bubblebath EPs under the name of AFX and a Bradley Strider EP under "Bradley Strider". He would also record tracks during this time that appeared on his later releases. James moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, but his electronics studies slipped away as a career in the techno business took precedence. After quitting his course, James remained in London and released a number of albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under many aliases, including AFX, Polygon Window, and Power-Pill.

The first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 85-92, was released in 1992 on R&S Records. It got good reviews not withstanding the fact that the recordings were at times of cassette quality, but thats hardly surprising as he was 14 years old in 85. Anyway, he put to music the world around him, lush landscapes with oceanic beats and added bass lines.
In 1992, he also released the Xylem Tube EP and Digeridoo as Aphex Twin, as Power-Pill the Pac-Man EP based on the arcade game Pac-Man, and two of his four Caustic Window EPs.

In 1993, Aphex released his third installment in the Analogue Bubblebath series, an ambient single On, his second Bradley Strider EP, two more Caustic Window EPs, and his first releases on Warp Records, Surfing on Sine Waves and Quoth under the alias Polygon Window. Warp Records pressed and released a follow-up to SAW85-92, Selected Ambient Works Volume II in 1994. It differs significantly from the first volume in the series, in that the first volume is mostly beat-oriented, with complex instrumental rhythmic patterns and heavy bass frequencies. In contrast to the fast, club-inspired ambient music of its predecessor, Volume II consists of slow, moody pieces James stated that these songs were inspired by lucid dreams and synesthesia. 1994 would also include a string of other releases including his fourth Analogue Bubblebath, GAK, derived from early demos sent to Warp Records and Classics, a compilation album that includes the Digeridoo single

Two months later, James released the single "Ventolin," a harsh, appropriately wheezing ode to the asthma drug on which he relied. I Care Because You Do followed in April, pairing his hardcore experimentalism with more symphonic ambient material, aligned with the work of many post-classical composers -- including Philip Glass, who arranged an orchestral version of the album's "Icct Hedral" on the August 1995 single Donkey Rhubarb. Later that year, the Hangable Auto Bulb EP replaced Analogue Bubblebath 3 as Aphex Twin's most brutal, uncompromising release -- a fusion of experimental music and jungle being explored at the same time on releases by Plug and Squarepusher. In July 1996, Rephlex released the long-awaited collaboration between Richard James and Michael Paradinas (ยต-Ziq). " Expert Knob Twiddlers".

The fourth proper Aphex Twin album, November 1996's Richard D. James Album, continued his forays into acid-jungle and experimental music. James' next two releases, 1997's Come to Daddy EP and 1999's Windowlicker EP, were acid storms of industrial drum'n'bass. The accompanying videos, both directed by Chris Cunningham, featured the bodies of small children and female models (respectively) dancing around, all with special-effects-created Aphex Twin faces grinning maniacally

With very little advance warning, another LP, Drukqs, finally arrived in late 2001, his most personal album yet, a 2-CD album which featured prepared piano songs influenced by Erik Satie and John Cage. It is notable that many of the tracks names are written in the Cornish language (e.g. 'jynweythek' translatable as 'machinemusic'). Also included were abrasive, fast and meticulously programmed computer-made songs. Although James continued making frequent DJ appearances, he released no more material until 2005, when Rephlex issued the first installment in a lengthy, 11-part series of 12" singles titled Analord. For the series James used his extensive collection of Roland drum machines which he bought when they were still at bargain prices.The singles' minimalist acid techno harked back to his Caustic Window/Analogue Bubblebath material of the early '90s. Chosen Lords, a CD compilation of some of the Analord material, appeared in April 2006.




1 Xtal (4:51)
2 Tha (9:01)
3 Pulsewidth (3:47)
4 Ageispolis (5:21)
5 i (1:13)
6 Green Calx (6:02)
7 Heliosphan (4:51)
8 We Are The Music Makers (7:42)
9 Schottkey 7th Path (5:07)
10 Ptolemy (7:12)
11 Hedphelym (6:02)
12 Delphium (5:36)
13 Actium (7:35)


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Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun (05 ^ 88mb)

Ulver took their name from the Norwegian word for wolf, snce their first, folklore-influenced black metal release entitled Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler (1993), Ulver’s musical style has been fluid and increasingly eclectic, blending genres such as avant-garde rock, trip hop, symphonic and chamber traditions, noise and experimental music, with heavy reliance on electronic recording techniques.

Led by vocalist Garm, Ulver recorded two concept albums, Bergtatt detailed a Norse legend in which maidens are abducted by denizens of the underworld to live in their mountain halls, and the following year's Kveldssanger ("Twilight Songs") was an all-acoustic collection of melancholy dirges. Ulver made their international debut in 1997 with Nattens Madrigal (Madrigal of the Night), a concept album about wolves performed in the traditional Norwegian black metal style; it was recorded for Century Black with a lineup of Garm, lead/acoustic guitarist Haavard, rhythm guitarist Aismal, bassist Skoll, and drummer AiwarikiaR.

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, released in 1998, was different from what Ulver had made before. Tore Ylwizaker, a new composer and sound architect, added to Garm’s expanding artistic visions, and together they stepped over the boundaries of black metal aesthetics, creating a genre-defying work. In this album, the musicians blended electronics, industrial music elements, progressive metal and avant-garde rock, adding ambient passages. Lyrically, the album incorporates the entire text of William Blake’s poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and relies on guest vocals

The band followed up these two releases with two minimalist/ambient/glitch works Silence Teaches You How to Sing and Silencing the Singing. These works featured minimal melodies and often had subtle, weird and unnatural noises within the song structures. Due to their individual rarity, they were later amalgamated as Teachings in Silence. Having proved their proficiency at making atmospheric music, Ulver were hired to make music for cinema films like Lyckantropen (see Lyckantropen Themes), Svidd neger (see Svidd neger (soundtrack)), and Uno.

In July 2004, the band had recorded their sixth album, Blood Inside, which was released on June 6, 2005. Bringing back more traditional rock instruments like guitar and acoustic drums, combining them with classical instruments, brass horns, and their rich electronic inventory. Shadows of the Sun is the seventh studio album by Ulver. . In an interview with Music Information Centre Norway, Ulver member Tore Ylwizaker commented on the album. He said it would be downplayed and inspired by chamber music in both style and crew. Ylwizaker also took a year off to study classical composers and composition techniques. All in all, this is an enjoyable, at times hypnotic album that consolidates a lot of the different strands of Ulver's music over the previous decade. In February 2008 Shadows Of the Sun won the Oslo Awards for album of the year 2007.



1 Eos (5:05)
2 All The Love (3:42)
3 Like Music (3:30)
4 Vigil (4:27)
5 Shadows Of The Sun (4:36)
6 Let The Children Go (3:50)
7 Solitude (3:53)
8 Funebre (4:26)
9 What Happened? (6:25)

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