Björk MegaRemix

This is a single continuous mix consisting of Björk remixes. These are some of my personal favorite remixes from this fine artist.

Baenin (Excerpt)
Human Behaviour (Close To Human Mix)
Venus As A Boy (7" Dream Mix)
Come To Me (Black Dog Productions)
Violently Happy (Massey Long Mix)
Army Of Me (Featuring Skunk Anansie)
One Day (Endorphin Mix)
Isobel (Burst Into Flames Mix)
Hyperballad (Fluke Mix)
Enjoy (Dom T Beats Mix)
Smith & Wesson (Stretched Excerpt)
Cover Me (Dillinja Mix)
Possibly Maybe (Calcutta Cyber Cafe Dub Mix)
I Miss You (Photek Mix)
Big Time Sensuality (Plaid Remix)
Jòga (Buzz Water Mix)
Baenin (Excerpt 2)

The songs overlap slightly so it is offered only as one large megamix mp3. I highly recommend that you purchase your favorite tracks and albums by this very talented artist.

Megamix mp3

Moody Blues Album Art

I may eventually share my fan mix of this fine album but until then, here is some retouched scans of the 1986 US CD art. I attempted to reduce the seams that occurred from aging and wear.

If you can find the 1986 and 1997 versions of their albums, I highly recommend it. I am very disappointed in how their recent "deluxe" editions are sounding on a regular CD player. They have mastered this album too loudly which is causing unwanted compression, and making it very hard to hear the little details that the group put so much thought in to. Basically, every "Deluxe Edition" I have purchased is too loud on regular CD players.

Earl Grant - Just For A Thrill (Instrumental favorites)

I purchased this album for only a dollar a few weeks ago. I gave it a listen a few days ago and had to make a recording. I figured the music would be good, since I knew Grant was a very talented musical performer. What I didn't expect was for the fidelity to be so stunning. It sounded like Earl had a small Jazz combo performing right in front of me. The recordings had less distortion than on his major label CD compilation. The record doesn't say who produced and engineered but they did a superb job. He has a wonderful small combo on this album, and I'm betting the saxophone work is by Plas Johnson, since he worked on a previous Grant album. This album really gives the feeling of being in a cool bar very late at night. He does mainly old standards, but gives them a nice touch of hipness. I used a Stanton turntable and cartridge and recorded on a Roland Edirol. I gave it some equalization to boost the low end and soften the highs a bit, but didn't use noise reduction. I am offering it in both FLAC and 320 KBPS MP3 formats. I hope you will enjoy this as much as I am. Earl was a rare talent, and has been unfairly forgotten by many of us. I also stretched 2 of the songs and included those versions as well.

FLAC version

MP3 version

Spanish Inferno

This LP from the early 1960s was recorded on 4 channel 35mm film.
It is a very expensive and brilliant sounding way to record. This album boasts lush orchestral arrangements of popular Spanish songs like Malaguena and Espana. Little is said about the fine International Pop Orchestra or their conductor Alvarez. But the arrangements fall half way between Classical and Lounge. This was released on the Cameo label which was related to Parkway records where Chubby Checker issued The Twist. I'm sorry the record is scratched and old, but I still think it sounds pretty fine at times. I transferred this from a Stanton turntable to a Roland Edirol wave recorder while asdjusting the EQ somewhat. It was rendered to mp3 at 320kbps

GET IT HERE

Danielle Dax-Tomorrow Never Knows (Synthetic Mix)

Here is a mix of Tomorrow Never Knows that I put together using my favorite aspects of the various 1990 mixes of the song. If you don't know who Danielle Dax is, you are missing out. She is a very unique and beautiful talent, and I never stop hoping that she will grace the World with more music some day. The mix is in flac format.

GET IT HERE

The Ink Spots-Street Of Dreams

This little gem of an album is an EP of 8 classic Ink Spots recordings. It is a British 10" album released in 1955 on the Brunswick label. Whereas most EPs contain a good amount of filler songs, this one is all good tunes. Thankfully it has the famous tune, "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire". I've loved this album for many decades now. I always thought that the cover art was particularly nice, and it beautifully matches the mood of the music. My album was rather worn, so I culled this from digital sources. I also needed to crop some of the cover art because there were major cracks around the edges. I EQd the tracks, adjusted the volumes and ripped to 320 kbps mp3, enjoy! Definitely play this late at night sometime, preferably by moonlight.

Get It Here

Justin Bieber Experimental Remixes

This post is entirely inspired by the popular stretched remix of U Smile that has been on the internet recently, you know the one that is referred to as U Smile slowed by 800%. I am puzzled by that description since the version I found was around 35:28 which would actually be a stretch of around 10.796 depending on the sample widow size used on Paul's Extreme Stretch Software. So I don't understand how a 10.796 stretch can equate to slowed 800 times. The important thing for me is that it inspired me to finally stop using stretch software exclusively for songs that I really love and try using it on all types of music. So I got my hands on Bieber's 2 My World CDs and decided to see if there was more material that could be played with. It turns out there was.

I have made 2 CDs worth of experimental mixes, utilizing stretch functions as well as shortening functions on Paul's software. I am not doing this to become an overnight sensation but to allow people to hear these experiments in a high fidelity lossless format and to report some of the specs involved in the stretching process. I also made 3 condensed mixes which basically incorporates all 17 tracks from the 2 CDs at the same time. So for those that don't like long, mellow ambient tracks, there is something loud, wild and short included here for you. I mean no disrespect to whoever stretched U Smile the first time around, I admit that this project is inspired by that mix. I have been using Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch Software for years now, stretching only music that I really liked like for instance Peter Gabriel's Shock The Monkey as can be heard here. But the U Smile Slowed made me realize that music which I might not normally listen like can become something wonderful when stretched or shortened at the proper amount.

So I am giving links for you to download flac versions of my Bieber remixes, to enjoy in high fidelity and including some of the details of the stretching parameters that I used. I took the liberty of stretching U Smile as well but did at at a slightly faster rate of 10.795 so as to give an alternate version to the one that already exists. I am most likely using a different stretch type and different sample window size than the original mix but am using the same wonderful software which is still free shareware. On some tracks I added reverb and applied an equalizer where it seemed appropriate. On my condensed mixes I added effects to a few of the tracks that would be heard more clearly to keep the mix sounding experimental throughout.

I scanned 2 images from the albums and manipulated them on the awesome Gimp software which is also free. I felt that an experimental album should have some more experimental images to go with them, so hopefully I have created an album which others will enjoy like I am. My respect and thanks goes out to Justin Bieber and whoever stretched U Smile for the first time (it is widely reported to be an artist named Shamantis AKA Nick Pittsinger). If you listen to no other tracks on this album please check our Down To Earth Stretched or Condensed Worlds, they are in my opinion the finest pieces on here. If you are more fascinated by stretching than anything else, check out Stuck In The Moment Excerpt because it was stretched to 100 times it's normal length, I simply took a passage where Bieber sings "Stuck In The Moment" and made it last over 6 minutes in length. Quite appropriate considering the lyric.

Strange Worlds 1a

Strange Worlds 1b

Strange Worlds 2a

Strange Worlds 2b

Bieber - Down To Earth (Stretched X 5.5555) MP3

Bieber - Condensed Worlds MP3

Bieber - U Smile (19 Second Mix By Synthetic) MP3

Killing Joke - Requiem (Synthetic's Space Mix)

I just recently discovered some of the great remixes for the group Killing Joke, and I decided to have a go at remixing "Requiem". I started with the Acapella mix and added synths, slowed down the tempo, added more effects and reversed the middle section. I highly recommend buying some of the fairly recent remastered versions of their albums. Not only is the sound quality quite good, but there are some great bonus tracks included.

get remix here

Check out these songs from Steve E. on Indaba Music

Check out these songs from Steve E. on Indaba Music

Blue Cat Cinema - EP1

I am in a rather eclectic recording project with a very ambitious nephew of mine. This is our first album, EP1 which incorporates a strange blend of old and new styles and sounds. A musician friend from Slovakia described the feeling as "swimming in the air" which I liked quite a bit. We are attempting to be both experimental and poppy (in more of a mid 1960s sense). If you like music by Cornelius, Minotaur Shock and Plaid chances are you will dig this too. We are pleased to be on the French net-label Vaatican Records, where we are label mates with the Japanese group Satanicpornocultshop. I will give 2 links here, one for the album as we sent it to Vaatican (with 5-6 art files included), and one for the album as Vaatican has published (with their preferred cover art).

Extra art version

Vaatican version

Kinks Synthetic Fan Mix 3 - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

This is the final Kinks' album that I have made a special fan mix of, it comes from 4 different digital sources. It was reported that Ray Davies had considered making this a double album when it originally came out. This mix consists of 31 tracks and nearly fills an 80 minute CD. The songs flow together with overlaps, everything is remixed with altered panning and equalization. The Kick drum comes across more clearly than usual, and the hiss from vocals is reduced. This should not replace a real CD of this incredible album. I hope these fan mixes will increase people's desire to buy am authentic copy. This will be offered for a limited time only it is in high quality FLAC format.

Village Green Fan Mix Part 1

Village Green Fan Mix Part 2

Kinks Synthetic Fan Mix 2 - Something Else

After completing a fan mix of Face To Face, I decided to do the same with Something Else By The Kinks. This is remixed from about 5 different digital sources. This is mainly from the stereo sources though the separation is reduced, songs are given a new equalization, and sometimes the panning is changed. Once again the songs overlap slightly, to increase the concept album feeling. Every song has been remixed somewhat so it hopefully won't replace an actual CD of this album. As with my other fan mixes, there are lots of related bonus tracks that were remixed as well. This is in high quality FLAC, if you burn it to CD the songs will flow seamlessly like they should. I will probably only offer this for a short time so as to not upset the labels that have issued the proper versions of this album.

Something Else Fan Mix Download

Kinks Synthetic Fan Mix 1 Face To Face

Face To Face by The Kinks is one of the great rock albums of all time. It is one of the first album oriented rock albums in history. As great as this album is, there were many compromises in the way the album has always been presented. For starters reportedly Ray Davies leader of The Kinks wanted the songs to be tied together more closely and sometimes with sound effects. He also was hoping for a stark black cover as opposed to the somewhat psychedelic cover art that graced the album. I have made a remix that takes the stereo and electronically processed stereo tracks and makes them sound more integrated. I have made a special remixed version of this album that blends the songs together without pauses of silence in between. In many cases I even overlapped the tracks slightly to give it a greater concept album feel. I also adjusted the stereo separation so that songs fit better together. Reducing separation on some tracks so that they sound better paired with the mono tracks. The volume falls in between the 1980's CDs of this album and newer versions distributed by Castle communications. I took the artistic liberty of starting the album with "She's Got Everything" which was recorded during the Face To Face sessions but only released as a B-side a couple of years later. This way the album begins with 2 lively numbers in a row before settling into the introspective feel of the later tracks. After that the album falls into the same track listing as the original UK vinyl release, and has about 4 bonus tracks after that. Purists should be informed that every track was remixed somewhat, so this is mainly just a fan mix of the Face To Face album. I hope this will lead people to go buy one of the official releases of this great album, it is not intended to be a replacement. The cover art was made to more closely reflect what Ray Davies said he wanted for the album. Since this album is in print, I will only offer this remix for a limited time. I strongly suggest that you buy the CD somewhere and treat this as a fan mix only. That being said please enjoy this labor of love. It is in flac format so that the album will keep the smooth continuity.

Get It Here

Pop Art I Mix

I was a radio DJ in Malibu several years ago, and ever since I have wanted to do something like that again. I discovered some Mix CDs by Squarepusher, Atlas Sound and Caribou that incorporated lots of great stuff from the late 60s and early 70s, and they were quite inspiring. So I decided to make some of my own where the songs overlap somewhat and there is a good sense of flow to it. I thought about some of my biggest influences from that era and I decided it could aptly be described as Pop Art. That music that has elements of Psychedelic, Garage, Pop, Bubblegum and Folk. This is the stuff that is too aggressive to be called Pop but not trippy enough to be called Psychedelic. Close to what would become Prog Rock but with a more inherent sense of humor. So I made some mixes that incorporate my favorite songs that sort of fit in this unofficial category of music. This is Pop Art I:
1. The Who - Armenia City In The Sky
2. The Rolling Stones - Dandelion
3. J. K. & Co. - Fly
4. Os Mutantes - Minha Menina
5. The Beatles - Excerpt Montage
6. The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
7. The Pretty Things - She Says Good Morning
8. Del Shannon - Silver Birch
9. Del Shannon - I Think I Love You
10. The Bee Gees - Lemons Never Forget
11. Vanilla Fudge - Things Go Better With Coke
12. Bill Holt - Dreamies Program 10 Part 6
13. Pink Floyd - Funky Dung
14. Bruce Haack - Program Me
15. Clear Light - Black Roses
16. Gong - Castle In The Clouds
17. Manfred Mann - It's So Easy Falling
18. Man - The Future Hides It's Face (Excerpt)
19. Badfinger- Flying (Original Version)
20. The Turtles - You Don't Have To Walk In The Rain
21. The Electric Prunes - The Great Banana Hoax
22. The Troggs - I Can Only Give You Everything (Faster Mix)
23. Soft Machine - Alphabet / Hulloder
24. Soft Machine - Dada Was Here
25. Tomorrow - Revolution
26. Man - The Future Hides It's Face (Excerpt)

Now this is presented in one 80 minute continuous mix mp3, because the purpose is to present it as a broadcast. I also included radio jingles and ads from the 60's to keep the fun feeling that The Who had on their "Sell Out" LP. I have remixed most of the songs, reducing or increasing stereo separation, equalization and sometimes changing the tempo of the song. Also all of these songs are in print, so please buy CDs or downloads of the artists you hear on these samplers. I will only offer this in mp3 to keep from distributing copyrighted music in a high fidelity format. That being said, please enjoy! It was fun to make and should be fun to hear. I just noticed that there are no Beach Boys songs on this mix, kind of a screw up on my part since they are such a big influennce on me. I have made 7 of these Pop Art Mixes now so be assured that there are Beach Boys' songs on most of the other volumes. I will post some more of these soon.

The Artwork shown is some modified Pop Art by Andy Warhol

Download Pop Art I Mix mp3

Rubber Soul Synthetic Hybrid Fan Mix

This winter I finally took my various CD versions of Rubber Soul and made myself a copy which incorporates every track from the US and UK versions of the LP. I used my favorite mixes of each and then remixed them by lessening the stereo separation and reducing distortion. I also decided to bring up the drum and bass volume a bit more. Mostly this post is just to show you a really nice track order to listen to these songs in. For a week or two as a Holiday gift, I will offer a link to download this Hybrid version I am referring to. I can't believe I never thought to mix the US and UK albums before now, it makes for such a fun listening experience. I include the false start on "I'm Looking Through You" but subtly cross-fade into the less compressed UK version. So if you're like me and grew up with the US version, you should really enjoy this mix. The running order is made to closely match the flow of the US version. The art work you see is made to go with the Hybrid mix, it doesn't list the bonus track "12-Bar Original" because I treat that like a bonus hidden track. The temporary link is for a flac version of my fan mix. I realize that there are many fan mixes of this album, most are already excellent. I just made this mix for myself, but felt it was too good not to share for a limited time. If you like stereo, but not the drastic separation that was on the original CDs, then this mix should please you as well. If you do like it, please share it. If you don't enjoy it, sorry, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Click here for temporary download

Ella Mae Morse-Barrelhouse, Boogie & The Blues LP

What you see pictured here is an EP by the legendary Ella Mae Morse. She was one of the most versatile and talented singers of her era. She could sing blues, pop, swing, boogie, ballads and even rock & roll. She recorded the very first single for Capitol records, "Cow Cow Boogie" and it was a big success. She started recording as a teenager, and really developed quickly into a phenomenal singer. Her popularity was mainly in the early 1940s. This album was one of her few LPs and it shows her full range as a performer. Her band leader during this era was "Big Dave" Cavanaugh. As far as I know this LP in it's original lineup has never been released on CD. There is a box set of the same name, that is basically everything she ever recorded with Capitol records. I have a copy of the EP seen here, and found the additional tracks needed to make up the complete LP she issued in the mid 1950's. I picked 3 more tracks that seemed to go well with the original LP and am offering it here for your enjoyment. If you have the money to spare, get the box set on Bear Family records, or a used copy of the Capitol Collector's Series it is highly recommended. My vinyl copy has a lot of hiss that is unpleasant so I am offering a version with songs taken from CD.

get it here

UPDATE, I just found out someone is sharing the actual vinyl version of this 10" EP, so if you'd like to hear it from vinyl please visit the real cool blog called Big 10-inch record

Mimi-Soak

I am shocked that this album is out of print. This is such a fine album from the lead singer of Hugo Largo. Half of the songs are produced by the late Hector Zazou and the other half are produced by fellow Hugo Largo member Hahn Rowe. This album is simply beautiful and intoxicating, give it a listen.


Get it here

Hypnolovewheel-Space Mountain

This is a really good album, and is criminally under-appreciated, I have never seen it show up on Soulseek or other P2P sites. My copy is from CD released on the Alias label. The playing is tight, the lyrics are clever, it is a really fun album. I can't find out who all is on this album, but there is definitely Chris Xefos (who also played with King Missile) and Lou Giordano (who is a respected producer and engineer). I recommend this album highly as well as their Altered States album.
Thanks goes out to Army anesthesiologist Hank Wilson for turning me onto this music.

Get it here!

Woody Herman & The New Third Herd - Men From Mars 10 inch LP

This is a 10 inch album which was purchased by my Mom in England around 1955. I listened to the album since I was very young because I liked the cover illustration so much. I scanned the cover with a friend's camera and figured I would download the songs somewhere quite easily, after all this is the famous Woody Herman. I quickly realized that this is a very rare album, especially for downloading. Fortunately that same friend had just purchased a Roland Edirol recorder so we hooked it up to my Stanton turntable and got down to work. I also looked up recording dates for The Third Herd and proceeded to find a few more tracks which were recorded for the US Verve 12 inch release of this album. I found 5 tracks which were recorded around the same time and by the Third Herd to the best of my knowledge. I really hope you will enjoy this rare gem the way I have over the years. "Marakeesh" is the track that my Mom purchased this album for, and it is a beautiful piece of exotica. The flauitist, Sam Staff really shines on this track, and sadly died at age 34 before this album was released in England. This album seems to fit stylistically in between Cool Jazz and Lounge Music, it is bouncy, sophisticated and modern. The title track features an unusual Organ/Electric Piano combination which helps give it a modern otherworldy quality. Woody was in his early 40s around the time he assembled his Third Herd and I think that is reflected in the music here, it is mature, somewhat restrained but forward looking collection.

get it here

Ghosts Inc.

This is a project I have been involved in this year, and am extremely proud of. 2 years ago I made an EP of songs that incorporated EVPs (unexplained voices) with electronica music. That album entitled Ghost Suite will be available here before long. Two very talented recording artists, Norbert Croonenberg (HaveMercy) and Mikael Hannson (Colab) decided they would like to remix the songs from my Ghost Suite album and eventually Ghosts Inc. was born. The album that we have so far is 6 songs and they are really something special. Eventually there may be 2-4 more songs on the album, so we are calling this album Sounds From The Attic version 1.0. Our MySpace page is HERE so give us a visit and say hello, I hope you like the album.

download sounds from the attic v 1.0 (320kbps)

RIP to 3 great musicians

This remix of a song called Sima Edy by Dub Colossus was made largely as a memorial to the late greats Earl Palmer, Richard Wright and Hector Zazou. To hear many great remixes of artists on Peter Gabriel's Real World label visit Real World Remixed.

Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club

This LP from 1979 features one of the writers of the famous song "Video Killed The Radio Star". Ironically, the song became somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy for Bruce Woolley. He released a rocking version of the song in 1979, but it was eclipsed by The Buggles version thanks to MTV showing their music video repeatedly.
BW&TCC were similar to The Buggles but rocked harder and also featured Thomas Dolby who would become famous very shortly with his solo LPs. The album shows similarities to Bowie, Sparks, Devo, Talking Heads and Brian Briggs. The band is tight and lively and Woolley's singing and lyrics are a lot of fun. The album was released in the US as a self titled LP and released in Europe as "English Garden". Sadly, this classic artifact from the New Wave era is long since out of print, and quite expensive to get on CD. I sincerely hope this will be available again on CD in the future, but until then, here's a copy to enjoy from vinyl.

UPDATE- Bruce Woolley now has 2 web pages that are really worth visiting and joining:

www.brucewoolleyhq.com
www.brucewoolleyhq.ning.com

Download Album

Steve Miller Band-Rock Love

This is SMB's 6th album, and thanks to the tendency of music critics to completely "ape" each other, it is his least popular of their first 10 albums. The album gets a bad rep possibly because it is half studio half live recordings, but it is a diverse album with memorable moments. Don't believe all the negative hype behind this record, it is still classic SMB and should be regarded much more highly than it is. The live songs show the side of Steve Miller that later blues/rock guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan would become famous for. The studio tracks are all strong and the tune "Rock Love" is almost pure pop perfection. I am stunned that none of these tracks were released on SMB's box set a few years back, they really don't deserve to be this obscure. I found a copy on Soulseek and it was ok but had too much noise reduction and not enough stereo separation, so I remastered that copy quite a bit, and re-ripped it to LAME 3.98. The artwork was also tweaked a bit, but comes pretty close to the original. I hope you will agree that this is a good album that does not deserve to remain out of print forever.

Rock Love LP in LAME

Flaming Lips-Hell's Angels Cracker Factory

A few years back, Flaming Lips released a box set which contained most of the LPs and EPs from the early years of their career. Sadly, they did not include the full 23 minute version of their song "Hells' Angels Cracker Factory". It is one of the best pieces included with previous editions of "Telepathic Surgery" LP. This is an ambitious psychedelic song that helps keep the album from sounding too "sold out" or radio friendly. There are lots of things going on to keep the listener interested, and it shows the sort of ambition which would eventually win the group critical acclaim. There is a link listed in the comments section for downloading the full track.