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With her film Modulations: Cinema for the Ear and its accompanying CD soundtrack, Iara Lee and her Caipirinha production company/record label attempted to convey a sense of history to the electronic music revolution. Seeking to draw lines of connection from Kraftwerk to Derrick May, Afrika Bambaataa to Aphrodite, Modulations was an insightful stab at a concise, overarching viewpoint. On Early Modulations: Vintage Volts, the lens is focused further into the past, focusing on electronic music experimentation from the '50s and '60s. The musicians featured on this collection, like Pierre Schaeffer and Luc Ferrari, were pioneers of the genre who composed long before the invention of personal computers, sequencers, and samplers. Many of these musicians are obscure to the casual fan, but some of the music represented here made a huge impact on top composers to follow--John Cage's "Imaginary Landscape No. 1" and Morton Subotnick's "Silver Apples of the Moon" influenced everyone from Philip Glass to Mixmaster Morris. But much of the music on the collection remains rooted in its time--Max Matthews's "Bicycle Built for Two" could be the ultimate love song for the Atomic Age. --David Prince ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Essential listening
The film "Modulations" as directed by Iara Lee had a rather bold ambition to document the entire history of electronic music, starting in its earliest days and working its way to the present. However, such an effort may be ambitious, but not realistic. Because of this, Modulations was enjoyable but certainly not the authoritative guide to electronic music. In fact, its soundtrack released by Caipirinha offering a seemingly random selection of tracks from all over the spectrum.

"Vintage Volts" is the sister release to the soundtrack and has proven much more effective as a guide to early electronic music. I expected these recordings to be more of a historical novelty in many cases, but on the whole nearly every selection on the disc is strong; so strong, in fact, that many of them sound "newer", both in their sounds and in their concepts, than most new electronic music. These composers also have the advantage of doing it all first. Morton Subotnick's "Silver Apples of the Moon," for example, is so brilliantly strange that it practically outdoes itself. The only novelty track really is Max Mathew's "Bicycle Built For Two," but its brevity makes it worth including, since it serves as a recorded document of some of the first voice synthesis technology. Only Luc Ferrari's "Tête et Queue du Dragon" manages to get caught up in itself, a noisy sound collage with no real flow to it in my opinion. "Vintage Volts" is essential listening for anyone interested in knowing where contemporary music came from; virtually all music now has been affected and/or influenced by what these composers were doing in their time.

Early Modulations is essential listening
This new compilation is long overdue. This CD shows exactly how futuristic the future of music looked for the electro-acoustic composers and music concrete musicians starting in 1947 and concluding in 1967. These compositions are still as groundbreaking and revolutionary and thanks to many smart young sampling electronica musicians, surprisingly somewhat familiar. The real strength of this cd is that while it is experimental, its entirely listenable throughout while remaining totally thought-provoking as to the possibilities of whats to come. These composers were working analog, totally hands-on and it sounds contemporary! Check it out now, and lets start this year, decade, century, and millenium off right: on the same page--looking ahead from a past that is still somehow beyond us. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

deeetroit!
those planet e cats! Mike Clark did a good stop mixing, but that last track had no binness being up in this piece. all and all, it made for good listening...

Detroit techno meets deep house
The second volume of Carl Craig's "Geology" compilations breathes a more relaxed atmosphere than the first. This CD doesn't have the weight of intellectualism that gets in the way a bit on some of Carl Craig's work. Instead, we get steaming beats over light-footed, soulful organ melodies.
This is most evident in Kenny Dixon's (aka Moodymann) remix of "people make the world go round", but comes back in all tracks. This CD is good for listening and for dancing. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent mix
I think Vic is one of the best uplifting,and progressive trance dj's around. I saw him live twice and he just ignited the crowd.He compares to many dj's like George Acosta,Christopher Lawrence,and Kimball Collins.For anyone who likes progressive trance, this is a great cd.

not much of a voyage
Trance Voyages isn't exactly the kind of album I consider will transport me into a different world. It's like listening to a downbeat techno. If you want to get into a transicional mood I advise something like Meat Beat Manifesto or maybe The Orb.

You got to check out this one!!
This is one great trance Cd! it flows from top to bottem with great trance sounds and beats this is a must buy. The tracks blaxo watching you and the second comming are awsome. I advise checking this cd out. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Far from the best compilation ever, but a few nice surprises
This isn't an awful CD. Although some can get somewhat irritating, most of the songs are a reasonably good effort... The winners are Sarah McLaclan, Delerium, William Orbit, The Crystal Method (somewhat surprisingly), and Spiritualized. Autour de Luce's track is quite simply the closest you can get to heaven without dying. I'd buy the album for this track alone (I think you'll know what I'm talking about when you get it...)

The best electronica since MTV Amp
When I popped this CD into my CD player, I was surprised. With music from Wildchild, Crystal Method, and Fatboy Slim... this is the best electronica since MTV Amp.

Not bad
There are several tracks that are pretty damn good, as well as a few bummers. The William Orbit track is good, as well as some Norman Cook remixes. All in all I like this disc and would purchase it again from what I know. You might like it too.

Stay up all night and drink lots of H2O
IF you're the type that enjoys watching the sun come up on Saturday and Sunday mornings, then this is a more than decent cd to have. If you are one who feels music, the beats and rhythms will go along well with your mood.

If there was just a way to erase the Cornershop remix. That is the only song on this cd that sounds like it belongs at some frat party where football players drink too much and end up telling you much more than you ever awanted to know about their past. The Delerium Silence song is a remix of Sarah McLachlan and is one of the true great conversions of a typical song into electronica.

So purchase the cd, grab your glowsticks and your vapo-rub and watch the sun rise.

A decent comp aimed for the big beat fan
This is a departure from #1, as it focuses on just two types of songs: danceable club tunes, and Fatboy Slim style big-beat stuff. Slim actually has two songs here, the beat-by-the-numbers Wildchild remix of "Renegade Master" and a better attempt on Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha"- making that song at least listenable. There's a remix of "Comin' Back" that adds swirling tones, a new breakbeat, a cowbell and more- good but not worthy of being the first track on the disc. The gem on this is the always mandatory Sarah McLachlan tune, Delerium's magnificent, throbbing crowd pleaser "Silence." You also get an older but enjoyable William Orbit piece "Water From a Vine Leaf" that follows "Silence" nicely. What else...the b-boy tune from the Freestylers, which is better than either Fatboy song, although it's Raggae-rap won't appeal to everyone. Heck, it doesn't appeal to me, but the song has an exuberance that raises it above generic big beat schlock. There's the electro/ robotic "The Freaks" by Uberzone which doesn't do much, and the electro bore by TPC (which is BT and Sasha making a huge departure from their usual fare). The end of the disc has the French-singing/guitar/d'n'b/orchestral "Sur Tes Pas" (a pleasant surprise) and the Chemical Brothers remix of "I think I'm in Love," which is an interesting foreshadow of their Surrender album.

So whether you like this album depends on if you want a cd that starts off with some good club tunes, turns to big beat halfway through, and ends with electro/wierdness. I give thee a 3. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Part 1 of Tommy Boy's comprehensive compilation of early electro, hip-hop, and freestyle hits concentrates on the fundamentals. The collection begins as it must, with Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force's epochal "Planet Rock," a sort of Rosetta stone for producers in the decade that followed and beyond. Loved (and sampled) to this very day, "Planet Rock" cleared the way for all the tracks that follow it here (arranged chronologically), including "Walking on Sunshine" by Rocker's Revenge and Jellybean's timbale-mad upgrade of Babe Ruth's "The Mexican." But despite the limitations implied in the compilation's subtitle, "New York Electro Hip-Hop + Underground Dance Classics, 1980-1985," the set reaches back to earlier sources, inevitably including Kraftwerk's bleats, blips, and beats. --John Sanchez ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Nice collection, but wrong mixes
A good selection of underground dance sounds from the early 80s, but you can't really relive that clubbing experience with these short mixes. Who ever danced to to a 3:46 version of Dirty Talk? At least this collection does the honest thing and lists all cuts and lengths on the CD. A great driving CD for the car if you've become too busy or lazy to make your own tapes from your old 12" EPs.

Essential for fans of any kind of dance music
This is really a wonderful album, a testament to the strength of early house, electro, freestyle and hiphop. These are all familiar sounds to anyone who spent the better half of their youth in an urban nightclub setting. If anything, these pieces have all matured rather gracefully, and as a soundtrack to the summer, only the most stodgy rock and roll fan would have to turn this down. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Subversions
This is techno for listening: in other words, it's musical. The omnipresent Latin-derived 4/4 metronome is used as just another element of rhythm on some tracks, and doesn't appear at all on others; the consistency lies in a sometimes-subversion of the "traditional" format, and a general attention given to layering and texture. Gemini's "Crossing Mars" may be the most striking example, as the predicted beat is interwoven with constantly-shifting elements over a space of several minutes - building a dramatic sense of aural architecture - until a peculiar atonal riff is dropped into the mix; that riff is then treated to a similar process of deconstruction. Predictably, a couple of tracks (by Flexitone and 4th Wave) are not differentiated enough from the general mass of dance music, despite their quirky textures, and given the fact that together these tracks take up 11 minutes of the program, I can't give the CD the five stars that some of the other tracks alone deserve. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Exquisitely perverse
Given Crippled Dick Hot Wax's track record, it seems a given that they would release a compilation as good-naturedly sleazy as Les Chansons des Perverts. The governing aesthetic is less-than-pitch-perfect, cheesy - yet compelling - tunes; outsider music for lounge lizards who love the the vertigo induced by queasy listening. There are some really standout tracks, though, particularly the plums picked from older albums of the 60s, 70s and early 80s: "Sugar Cane" and "Camino del Sol" sound like lost film soundtrack gems, while "Come in my mouth" (apparently from "Let My People Come: a sexual musical") is jaw-dropping, heh-heh. The more recent tracks are a little too knowing but manage to complement the better stuff. Certainly one of Crippled Dick's better releases. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Absolute Classics
I generally don't give anything five stars but I can't give this compilation anything less.It came out in 1996, hence "Tribal Gathering 1996" and even after four years of use, it still has a place in my disc rotation. If I had to sum up this album in one word it would be *diversity*.It includes so many classics from so many styles it would be hard for anyone who appreciates dance music to dismiss the whole thing.You get three cds all with very unique styles, and a color booklet outlining the history of the Tribal Gathering celebration. From Marshall Jefferson's (Disc 1) rendition of "Samba Magic" (Basement Jaxx) to Gayle San's (Disc 2) own immortal "Tribal" you get Chicago house to proper UK techno and everything in between.On Disc 3, James Levelle (Mo Wax founder) brings us deep trance and techno in it's best form.

While I give this album five stars, it certainly isn't for everyone.If you don't like dance or "electronica", (while you probably wouldn't be here in the first place) your not gonna get much from this album, and I don't recommend it.Furthermore if your looking for really loud pounding drum and bass or jungle, or if you want really light trance with cheerful vocals than this isn't what your looking for either. However, if you don't fit into the two categories above this album is an absolute must.Even if your a bit new to the whole "electronica" scene don't get scared off, the compilation is a good starting place and has more than enough for the open mind. ... Read more

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This disc celebrates the domestic arrival of one of Britain's most influential upstart techno labels, Wall of Sound. Founded in 1994 by a pair of club kids with an unusual affinity for Phil Spector (hence the name), the imprint has gone on to launch the careers of big beat luminaries like Propellerheads, John Carter (a.k.a. King Monkey Mafia), and Derek Dahlarge (a.k.a. Ceasefire). Bustin' Loose offers a glimpse back with key selections from these artists as well as a long look forward with exciting new contenders like the Wiseguys ("Ooh La La"), Les Rythmes Digitales ("Jacques Your Body [Makes Me Sweat]"), and Akasha ("Crazy Baby"). A reliable sampling of the future. --Aidin Vaziri ... Read more

Reviews (1)

ITS AUTOMATICally good?
Well to tell u the truth i bought this cd because its WALL OF SOUND. Afetr i listened to the "Give 'em enough dope" album, i quickly developed a very high reputation for WOS. When i saw this cd on the shelves of my cd store, i bought it without a second thought. What i got in return was something unexpected (by me): a cd full of "Propellerheadsy" beats and lots of electronic funk with an 80s twist to it all. A very different album from "give 'em enough dope" but also very good! I recommend it to people who have a soft spot for Propeller Heads, 80s funk, and bigbeat. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

One of the best of the series
Maybe it's just me, but there is something about the repetitiveness of some lounge/d&b/acid jazz songs that I love.The last track here is dy-no-mite and most of the others are great too.My favorite after Volume 3.

Right on for slippin' into "that" mood
The title says it all.You can slip away to these cool sounds.Great background, relaxing, thinking or studying music....also great for getting busy...:)

Nice smooth synthesis of electronica and various horns.

Chill as beats
If you ever get back from a club late at night with your shirt sticking to your back and your ears still ringing from all the noise, you dont want more heavy, fast based racket to give you a migraine.For those that wishto have a chill, laid back bit of tunes to rock the night away than this isthe CD to buy.I'm not a huge fan of Acid Jazz, but this is the greatestCD to put on to geta chick in the mood.It's not to heavy, yet not toslow.Like the title says it's for after hours. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Neither a label sampler nor a hits collection, 13 Years of Electronic Lust is more a historical document examining the state of industrial dance music circa 1987. As such, its appeal will be primarily to newcomers to the genre, since fans will probably already own most of these recordings on their original albums. The usual late-'80s suspects make an appearance: Front 242, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb. But they are put into context with other electro bands around at the time that have all but been forgotten: the angsty Mussolini Headkick, the synth-poppy Moev, and the dramatic Click Click, to name just a few. Not all the tracks are winners, but at least some thought seems to have been put into their selection. Take your pick: it's either a great jumping-off point or a decent slab of nostalgia. --Steve Landau ... Read more

Album Details

Beast Combines the Inventive Spatial-Techno Style of Process with the Luxurious Production and Immaculate Structuring that Only Hallucinogen Can Deliver. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Mind-breaking psychedelisk ambient/drum'n'bass/trance!
This cd is perfect for a chill after a great party and it takes your mind out of the room and on a journey that can (and should) NOT be described. Get yourself on a hilltop,bring some ******,and play this cd. Its so psychdelic,and will force you into differant dimensions,outer space,Goa,in the mystical wood filled with psychedelic mushrooms,and an old wizard playing tunes on his flute. For everyone who thinks that the spirit and soul deserves something better!+ABw-

outstanding and interesting concept
quality listening... interesting subject matter and well presented. Really grows on you. Highly recommended.

Electronic compilation of the year.
An incredible downtempo compilation produced by some of the preeminent artists in psychadelic trance. This album is simultaneously calming and energizing; interesting to trance fans yet accessible to a wider audience. For a long time it was only available through specialist trance shops and there it tended to sell out instantly.

I cannot recommend this disc highly enough. ... Read more

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The British label Leaf has built a formidable reputation as a record company to respect; their compilation Osmosis mixes back-catalog standouts with exclusive cuts.By mixing A Small Good Thing's "El Mariachi Loco" with the transatlantic cut-and-paste of "310"(producers Joseph Dierker and Tim Donovan record and send constituent parts of their work to each other), this CD hops from recognizable influence to music for which there is no definitive category yet. To call it simply "electronica" would be an understatement. Here we have the 10-piece percussion ensemble Eardrum next to the idiosyncratic house-funk of German producer Beige, and Japanese legend Susumu Yokota also devotes two of his most beautiful piano-led pieces to the cause. A satisfying spread of musical gems that merely scrapes the surface of Leaf's arsenal. --Amazon.co.uk ... Read more