Dolmot

I also enjoyed the set greatly. A lot of it is familiar but still well worth listening. As for the track...is it The Big Blue, either from Daze or the live version from Planet Riders?

I find it quite nice too - even included it in my 2009 yearmix. (Yep, the original is that old.) It has some clubby vibe, true, but AP still manages to produce tracks with good groove and clear whole-track structure instead of just repeating a single loop for eight minutes and adding a few pointless squeaks to random locations. I don't think I'm going to need any of the remixes but hey, if it's finally a real release, I approve it and take a short break from mudflinging. Thanks to TIP as well for getting things moving.

I'm making a presentation for a seminar which is only held for formal annual reporting. The topics are technical, they vary wildly, and it's unlikely that they'll be of much interest to anyone else. In fact, I expect most of the participants to daydream through it and to use the printed proceeding as a pillow. How much effort should I spend on this?

What's there?

The new Celt Islam album is good and follows that style quite closely, I think... http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IazaH0nOUwA (That clip is skipping, cutting and generally crap. Get the real thing.) For a few quick classics in North African/Middle Eastern style, see: Adham Shaikh Toirés ...although at some point I usually get fed up with all the ethnic yodeling and move back to honest instrumental dub. Fortunately I don't have to pretend being a model world citizen all the time within the walls of my own home.

Who wouldn't love that heavy machine beat?

That would make a badass lead sound.

Is that track lowpass-filtered to 1250 Hz? That's surely an odd version of the Biocandy I know... (Kind of neat garage-mastered cassette effect, though. I almost like it.)

Cool stuff, absolutely...but am I supposed to listen to warez copies for three months (or try resisting it) before the actual release?

I just realised this is a very special CD. I can read the track listing. It has a clear font (not some goddamn hippie squiggles), big letters and good contrast. (Have you ever tried reading, say, Synthetic Flesh's labels when DJing at a pitch black club?) Also, the titles are real words, not some pseudo-ethnic nonsense taken from a language the artist doesn't even speak. I was able to fill in the titles in extraction software without consulting Discogs. For this reason alone, I give it five stars.

Should we define rarity by supply, demand or their ratio? For example... - Koxbox Live at Burning Man 1996 was a test pressing estimated at 20 copies. Not that many people are looking for it actively. (It's a bit of gimmick item with only modest differences to released material.) Nevertheless, one copy sold on Discogs for $656. - Let's say mr. whoever self-releases a crap CDr and manages to sell five copies before quitting. It's very rare but not sought after. - IFO was released properly in multiple full pressings without any intended "limited edition" tricks or problems. Probably several thousands of copies exist. It's not rare in the absolute sense, but 440 discoggers have it on their want list at the time of writing, and VG copies go for 60e or something. So you can get a lot of requests for a reasonably well supplied item because even more people want it, or maybe just a few (very generous) offers by hardcore collectors for a truly obscure item. Both can be listed, but are you specially after absolute or relative rarity?

I bought Unify (2xLP) brand new. It was good. Cosmic Experience had a few good riffs hidden somewhere in a big barrel of cheese. Didn't buy that one. After that...five seconds of the first sample have usually told more than I wanted to know. I'll pass.

Well...checking a few new places, sleeping under a tree, barbecue, swimming, stuff like that. There was more than enough fucked up shit happening last winter already.

Crossing Mind - The Inner Shift Makyo - Purnima Ren Toudu - Intangible

Which year?

Very handy. A few suggestions if you still have another boatload of free time to spare: - Track list and timed links in the description. - Maybe a short list of famous artists and/or labels for each genre. Discogs links might be nice too as a starting point for browsing. Oh, and "space samples" to goa. Eastern, drug-related and space/sci-fi samples. They're all equally essential.

You can try listening to psy-amb. There are 46 episodes at the moment of writing plus some radio extras, each containing 1-2 hours of quite enjoyable psychill. It's hard to predict, what counts as brilliant for each listener so dive in, sample a lot and spot a favourite. A large chunk of important releases over years are covered there. I've found plenty. Besides, even the not-so-brilliant stuff makes good background muzak. The articles and interviews are often worth a read too. (A Posford interview was posted today. )

Well, it's an asking price. Nobody has paid it yet. There was another copy for 80e a few months ago, but last time I checked, there was no such sale in the history. I guess the buyer side still has a little bit of sense, even though the sellers don't. However, copies for sale are nowadays few and far between... You won't find a reasonably priced one easily.

Well, keyboard synth players are generally considered musicians, just like electric guitar players. However, it's debatable if programming a hardware or software synth counts as "playing an instrument". As said several times in this thread, it's similar to writing a score, not playing along (someone else's) notes. On the other hand, the whole question may be pointless. You can write a book using a mechanical (or digital) typewriter, definitely not in real time, possibly editing it for years. I don't think anyone would claim that "it's not a real story", "it's not art" or "the machine did it". People don't expect authors to perform live. The same applies to animated films, paintings etc., but for music it's still the norm that someone must be bouncing around the stage with a guitar. Even more oddly, it's still quite OK if it's 100% playback with no instruments really plugged in and just faking it for two hours. That still counts as playing/performing, while operating decks does not. It's also a common argument in music piracy to claim that recordings are just for promotion and "the band" should perform live to earn its money. In non-real-time electronic music, writing is typically the largest undertaking by far. If I want to listen to ambient, 99 times out of 100 it's a recorded copy in my living room. Even though it's possible for "the band" (one guy) to pretend pressing a drone key for 15 minutes, it would be silly to expect that as the primary method of delivery. Anyway, I digress...

My favourite psy-dub artist of them all these days, and that includes the commercially released ones. I love you all. Heck, even physically if that was needed to get this album. Coincidentally, I just received a bunch of new Robert Rich CDs and now this. Suddenly the 10 hour flights tomorrow and next week don't feel that miserable. Do you want my money?

Coincidentally, my old home headphones have been falling apart for several years and now I think the situation is getting so serious that even solder and duct tape won't help. (That's definitely serious.) I do have DJ headphones, but they're too heavy for continuous casual listening. What I'd like to get this time is: - Wireless, digital, RF (to wander around, work on other desks or to lie down) - Lightweight and comfortable enough to wear for several hours - Very clear sound, bass response going deep enough for black ambient without distortion or physical resonance. Note that it's quality over sheer quantity that matters here. I can get crap sound with enormous 200 Hz boost anywhere. I'm visiting Germany next week so they probably have plenty of brands available even for live trial. Nevertheless, a few informed opinions would be welcome to narrow it down. Regarding budget...we'll I'm not rich enough to declare that "money isn't an issue", but I surely can invest quite heavily to a device I'm using several hours every day - especially when it comes to music which is too precious to be constantly ruined by poor hardware. Any first-hand experiences or other good ideas?

I don't know what to make of that competition. If you look at the past winners, you'll notice that it's been mostly running in a circle between the latest (US) war, riot and natural disaster. They could almost announce the winning topic beforehand, and then hand over the prize to whoever manages to shove his lens closest to the victims. €10000 to the lucky winner, thanks but no cigar to the subjects. I guess it still manages to illustrate an important issue of the year and highlight some well-timed photos, but there's little originality or creativity left if only variations of the same scenes get repeated for over 50 years. The other categories usually manage to show a bit better, what could possibly fit in the wide concept of a press photo.

If you're referring to SUNCD18, released 26. March 2010, it's missing from 2011 voting for a good reason. Meanwhile, Space Forming Vol. 3 should be downtempo, I think.

Well, based on this topic, it seems to be true...although the "everyone" bit is exaggeration. Imba isn't. For 90% of releases, that's fairly accurate. You can easily get away with that recipe. Actual creativity or planning would be nice, but it's completely optional. True. There's a sample from the latest sci-fi trailer, though. That's how you get a track title for the random noises, unless it's called "Mind Expansion" or "Dance Dance Yeah". It is techno spiritual trance or dance, right? Fortunately I'm listening to the cool subgenres. Sometimes it's good to do a reality check. After all, many people inside the scene believe that listening to a few sawtooth wave farts will make you an enlightened person, entitled to look down on everyone else and their thoughts. What if it's the outsiders who are right?