The recent shutdown of hosting company Megaupload and reported arrest of key staffers means that almost every file on this site is now unavailable. We’ll monitor the situation over the next few days, see if MU does get back online. If not, well we suspect it’s game over for this particular project. Stay tooned.

CD, ACV, 1993

Italian technohead Leo Anibaldi inhabited the grey interzone between deep acid techno and the burgeoning (early 90s) dark ambient scene that was really just good old industrial music with the beats removed. Some of this stuff has distinct echoes of earlier industrial glories such as SPK’s Leichenshrei, only, y’know, with beats. Eerie yet toe-tapping, what’s not to like?

He made a couple of albums for ACV, of which this is the second after Cannibald, and then Void for the mighty Rephlex label. There’s a useful collection from these called (with some hyperbole) Classics ’90-95 knocking around, and Anibaldi returned to public view with a download album last year called 2000 Cuts. You should buy it.

01. Part 1 (6:10)
02. Part 2 (10:59)
03. Part 3 (6:36)
04. Part 4 (6:20)
05. Part 5 (5:21)
06. Part 6 (5:21)
07. Part 7 (7:24)
08. Part 8 (5:03)
09. Part 9 (7:47)

Link | Discogs

With the exception of the KLF’s track, the ironically titled “What Time Was Love”, and the Gary Clail/On-U Sound verion of the Pop Group’s unreleased “Karen Silkwood’s Car”, there’s no overtly anti-nuclear sentiment in evidence in the music, and the sleevenotes are pretty discreet too. All royalties from the releases, which were overseen by Beechwood, went to CND.

Give Peace a Dance vol 1, 2CD, CND/Mixmag 1991

DISC ONE
01. The Moody Boys – Free (5:04)
02. Beats International – 3 Foot Skank (Monitor Mix) (3:21)
03. Wildski – Wonderful World (Mad Professor Mix) (5:41)
04. Dub Syndicate feat Prince Far I – Wadada (3:40)
05. African Head Charge – Hold Some More (4:18)
06. Gary Clail/On-U Sound System feat. Big Youth – Karen Silkwood’s Car (3:59)
07. Coldcut – Stop This Crazy Thing (Hedmaster Mix) (6:49)
08. Massive Attack – Daydreaming (4:14)
09. Krispy 3 – Sell Outs Must be Done (4:51)
10. Bocca Juniors – Raise (63 Steps to Heaven) (Tackhead Remix) (4:44)
11. Bomb The Bass – Understand This (5:04)
12. MC Duke – Get Involved (3:25)
13. Hoodlum Priest – Caucasian (3:33)
14. Mana Loa – Free Spirit (6:17)
15. Ruthless Rap Assassins – And It Wasn’t a Dream (CND Edit) (3:11)
16. Definition of Sound – Rise Like the Sun (7:34)

DISC TWO
01. The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds (Ambient Mix Mk1) (8:46)
02. Sun Electric – O’locco (Kama Sutra Mix) (6:16)
03. The Shamen – Hear Me Oh My People (Orbital Mix) (6:45)
04. Baby Ford – Change (D.F.W.M.N. Mix) (5:41)
05. Renegade Soundwave – Ozone Breakdown (5:54)
06. Apollo XI – Peace (In the Middle East) (7″ Radio Edit) (3:23)
07. Sunsonic – Driveaway (Primate Mix) (6:25)
08. S’Express – Brazil (Vox Mix) (4:04)
09. Fantasy UFO – Fantasy (Club Cut Mix) (4:41)
10. Fraser Clarke vs The Irresistible Force – War ‘n’ Peace (CND Edit) (7:12)
11. Scientist, The – The Bee (Honeycombe Mix) (4:28)
12. 4 Hero – Mr Kirk’s Nightmare (Remix) (5:07)
13. The KLF – What Time Was Love (1:36)

Link | Discogs

Give Peace a Dance vol 2: The Ambient Collection, CD, CND 1991

01. LFO – Change (4:24)
02. Bleep & Booster – Genki (Technology Remix) (4:49)
03. The Black Dog –The Von Daniken Experiment (4:23)
04. Electrotête – I Love You (Bug-Eyed Beans From Venus Mix) (3:54)
05. Erasure – Ship of Fools (The Orb’s Southsea Isles of Holy Beats Mix) (9:34)
06. Colourbox – Philip Glass (3:25)
07. The Irresistible Force – Space is the Place (Cosmic Mix) (4:31)
08. Suns of Arqa – Kalavati Alap (4:16)
09. Solaris – Solaris (6:15)
10. Ohi Ho Bang Bang – The Path (4:10)
11. Suns of Arqa – Kalavati (Bleep & Booster Remixes) (21:55)

Link | Discogs

Give Peace a Dance vol 3: Psychotic Reactions, 2CD, CND 1992

DISC ONE
01. The Pied Piper – Kinetic (Orbital Remix) (7:01)
02. Orbital – Open Mind (F.A. Mix) (6:26)
03. Ubik – The Truth Vibration/Rise (6:12)
04. Hi-Ryze – JP233 (5:28)
05. C/R/2 – Madness (4:23)
06. Doc Scott – Surgery (Midnight Mix) (6:12)
07. 400 Blows – Tension Release (Exclusive Mix) (4:24)
08. Turntable Symphony – It’ll Make You Go Ooh! (Original Mix) (6:00)
09. Holy Ghost Inc. – Jihad (3:17)
10. Nightmares On Wax – Fun (7:10)
11. Hoodlum Priest – Capital of Pain (Apollo 440 Remix) (6:21)
12. Carl Cox – I Want You (Skin 2 Mix) (5:27)

DISC TWO
01. The Irresistible Force – Underground (Fuck Off Mix) (7:24)
02. The Hypnotist – The Ride (6:04)
03. A Homeboy, a Hippie & a Funki Dredd – Start the Panic (Top Buzz Mix) (5:03)
04. Moby – Go (Rainforest Mix) (5:18)
05. Psycho Slaphead – Psycho Slaphead (Asylum Mix) (6:18)
06. Sheep on Drugs – Drug Music (5:50)
07. Vinyl Vandals – Don’t Be So Serious (4:12)
08. Toxic – Original Style (X-Clusive Remix) (6:31)
09. Satin Storm – Call in the Hardcore (6:15)
10. Set Up System – Fairy Dust (Saga Mix) (5:05)
11. Apollo 440 – Blackout (Digital Hardcore Instrumental Remix) (6:12)
12. Meat Beat Manifesto – Paradise Now (5:39)

Link | Discogs

We know it’s quiet around here at the moment. S is moving house, T is moving countries. We will be back as soon as we are able. All links remain live.

PS, Farewell to the pioneering Conrad Schnitzler, who died August 4th, aged 74. We discussed him on Friendsound here.

These are their first two releases, long gone. There’s nothing groundbreaking in the music, but it does a fine job of taking an inattentive listener’s mind on a little jaunt around the outer planets for a couple of hours…

Mindpop, CD, Cascade 1994

01. The Old Globe Amphibian Theatre (25:40)
02. Rainbows Over the Funniest Man on Earth (13:41)
03. I Need Some Air, Please (18:14)

Link | Discogs

LCD, Jupiter & Beyond Infinity, CD, Cascade 1994

01. Jupiter & Beyond Infinity (39:53)
02. A Little Girl in China (9:56)
03. Tiruchchirappalli (21:30)

Link | Discogs

Initial discs were packaged in spray-painted card sleeves with a booklet insert, sealed with stickers, but later graduated to colour booklets and then full sleeves. The label ran to 26 releases, from 1997 to 2006, plus a further six minis on sub-label Archipelago; here are the first four, including a compilation of many of its early core artists.

eM Djinn, Foundry fou.01, 1997
“We live among spirits. Our world is filled with ghosts of our own making. They rise from our appliances, they dance along power lines, they sing in the radio and television waves.”

01. Heartbeat World (5:52)
02. Sneaker Squeak Spirit Breath (5:47)
03. Moorish Heroes of the Spanish Main (4:30)
04. Go Back to Sleep (4:42)
05. If on a Winter’s Night (5:31)
06. The Haze in Tropojope’s Caffé (4:57 )
07. Body Drone (4:54)
08. Ravelero Driver (On) (9:47)
09. Fanfare From Another Place (0:48)
10. Temple Ghost Simoom (5:01)
11. Lost Dances (5:28)
12. The End of a Thousand Years (4:57)
13. Joining Prayers (2:50)
14. Find The Human Heart (6:13)

Link | Discogs

Various Eclectronica, Foundry fou.02, 1997
“An anthology of movement between the classical and the ambient.”

01. Blithely Menace – Armand: a Theme for the Majestic (3:02)
02. Nathan Kreisberg – Tiny Circus 92:07)
03. M. Bentley – November (2:19)
04. Nathan Kreisberg – Der Leiermann (3:31)
05. M. Bentley – Melancholia (3:46)
06. The Apiary – Dreams of Ragnarok & Sisyphus (6:23)
07. Rhomb – Autmun in Her (7:28)
08. Rhomb – We Creep and We Change (8:52)
09. eM – Fanfare From… (0:53)
10. M. Bentley – Port Klang: First Impressions (2:27)
11. Melec – Crush (4:39)
12. Rhomb – Above the Earth (5:08)
13. M. Bentley – Flora (2:55)
14. M. Bentley – Ring, Edge (4:11)
15. M. Bentley – Wail and Waft (4:16)
16. M. Bentley – Deep Listen (6:45)

Link | Discogs

The Apiary Descent, Foundry fou.03, 1997
“Music which recalls the world of nature, the fear and the beauty.”

01. The First Darkness (7:56)
02. Duot: (a) Speaking In Tongues
03. (b) Water Garden
04. (c) Speaking Again (20:21)
05. Recalling The Other: (a) Out
06. (b) Away
07. (c) Return (21:20)
08. Dreams of Ragnarok and Sisyphus (6:15)
09. Repeat: (a) Instinct
10. (b) Intellect
11. (c) The Soul (17:33)

Link | Discogs

Rhomb Hidden Topographies, Foundry fou.04, 1998
“A collection of pieces which are both quiet and spacious…”

01. Terminus (6:02)
02. Empty Roads (4:52)
03. Vacant Cities (3:16)
04. Darkened (4:30)
05. Glockengasse (4:30)
06. Ice Fields (4:22)
07. Synchronistic if at all (5:17)
08. Transmit Process Zen (4:21)
09. Man Knew (3:57)
10. Terminus (5:17)

Link | Discogs

7″ + book, Stampa Alternativa, 1988

You must have come across these – Italian books of dubious origin but unquestionable enthusiasm, usually coupling collected lyrics and an interview – in Italian and English – with a 7″ of live rarities and chat (later a CD along similar lines).

This one dedicated to San Francisco (and latterly Belgian) sophisticates Tuxedomoon is particularly pretty, with its embossed white-on-white cover, and the disc is worth a listen too. The a-side is a cover of a Nino Rota film theme, and the interview is a wide-ranging collage taking in all the key Tuxedomoon mavens and rocking’ Billy Burroughs too.

a. Michael’s Theme (1:45)
b. Interview (4:24)

Link | Discogs

CD, Fax, 1994

Ooh look, aren’t we clever… a cunning link between the Escape album and the Tuxedomoon rarity posted below….

Namely, ‘Moon member Blaine L Reininger’s idiosyncratic ambient album for Namlook’s Fax label from ’94. In collaboration with Amir (Dr Atmo) Abadi, Ingo Schnorrenberg and Michael Pagenstedt, this dreamy swamp meanders through typical chillout drifters with occasional interjections of Beat poetry in an almost Tom Waits style.

Released December 1994, in a single edition of 1000 copies, never reissued. See what you think…

01. Soundtrack of my Dreams (20:58)
02. God’s Picture in the Internet (20:12)
03. Enanariyo (15:34)
04. The Bodhi Tree (5:06)

Link | Discogs

2CD, Fax, 1994

Been a while since we posted any Fax, so try this monster. Released in 1994 in a single edition of 1000 and very much sought after (why no reissue?), Recorded in collaboration with Amir Abadi, aka Dr Atmo, the Escape collection combines Namlook’s twin loves of ambience and trance. The singles such as “Escape to Neptune” are sleek pounders, driven more often than not by samples from the movie Aliens. Disc two and the lengthy “Atmosphere Processor” both take the chillout path, the former close on a whole hour of electronic drifting. (Disc two has index points for nine tracks but should run without breaks.)

DISC ONE
01. Escape to Earth (8:24)
02. Escape to Mars (5:42)
03. Escape to Neptune (6:41)
04. Escape to Polaris (6:41)
05. Trip to Mars (5:39)
06. Trip from Mars (5:28)
07. Atmosphere Processor (17:52)
08. Trip to Polaris (7:59)

DISC TWO
01. The Futurescape parts 1-9 (57:46)

Link part 1 part 2 | Discogs

There was also an EP by Celestial Tribes that never happened; one track from that ended up on a Volume magazine disc, which also ran tracks from BC and PS. They’re all here too. Recently, there’s been the delightful promise of a boxed set of all these discs and more, but no sign as yet. Here’s hoping.

We have to agree with the Discogs summary of Butterfly Child, who “created some of the most luxuriant, romantic and intoxicating music to be released in the 90s… based around tumbling jazz rhythms, glacial guitars and the bewildered voice of Joe Cassidy”. He later recorded three acclaimed but mostly ignored albums which are all well worth tracking down. (Might just be us, but every time we hear that Fyfe Dangerfield’s voice it reminds us of Joe Cassidy, only not as interesting.) [Additionally: BC's 1st Peel Session]

Belfast trio Papa Sprain, centred around Gary McKendry, were like their labelmates’ evil twin, producing rougher, grainier explorations of haze and shimmer. Their album, recorded for Rough Trade, was never released. [Additionally: PS demos, PS Peel Session]

Both bands sometimes shared musicians while playing live and on their first Peel sessions, which gave rise to some confusion as to whether they were really just the same band. (Short answer, no they weren’t – see this comments thread.) They both also released music for the Rough Trade Singles Club – we’ll perhaps catch up with those at some point as well.

Papa Sprain - Flying to Vegas EP, 12″, H.Ark, 1991

A1. Vegas (3:34)
A2. Fizz (3:33)
B1. Spout (4:17)
B2. Rich (5:22)

Link | Discogs

Butterfly Child – Tooth Fairy EP, 12″, H.Ark, 1991

A1. Softest Thing Since Skin
A2. Words That End in ‘G’
B1. Jaqueline Frost
B2. Hollycopter

Link | Discogs

Butterfly Child – Eucalyptus EP, 12″/CD, H.Ark, 1992

01. A Breath of Fresh Air (6:25)
02. Viola (4:41)
03. Rocket Singer (3:27)
04. Minimal (3:15)
05. Sub-Marine (4:53)
06. A Breath of Fresh Air (Radio Edit) (3:57) – bonus on the CD single only

Link | Discogs

Papa Sprain – May EP, 12″/CD, H.Ark, 1992

01. U Swell (3:58)
02. Mayflower (3:09)
03. I Got Stop (4:11)
04. Bathtime (5:24)

Link | Discogs

Extra tracks
Celestial Tribes – “Gold” (from Volume Two, CD, 1991)
Butterfly Child – “We, the Inspired” (from Volume Four, CD, 1992)
Papa Sprain – “Flying to Vegas (remix)” (from Volume One, CD, 1991)

Link