Swoon 043 - April 26, 2004

Manual - Dawn Changes Everything (Darla)
Yunus Guvenen - Opus 34 (Bedrock)
Night Society - Nu Religion (Liquid Dreams mix) (Reform)
Hollis P. Monroe - Dance the Night Away (16th Element mix) (Stickman)
51 Days - Tracktion (Touche)
Junior Jack - Da Hype (Defected)
King Unique - Dirty (Junior)
Infusion - Girls Can Be Cruel (Audio Therapy)
Ad Finem - If You Fall (Hoxton Whores remix) (Azuli)
Alaska - Lost in Alaska (Eurotrancey mix) (FNAC)
Invisible Inc. - Stars (Inc vs. Roger mix) (Sumsonic)
Paranoid Jack - Nocturnal Affairs (Stickman)
Gus Gus - David (Medicine8 mix) (Underwater)
Avus - Real (Nathan Fake mix) (Border Community)
Rouzbeh Delavari - Inner Structure (Petter Deep in the Loop mix)
Metal Master - Spectrum (Caspar Pound mix) (Harthouse)
Lazer Caps - Genaah (Nice+smooth)
Glider - Look What's Ahead Koh! (Matlock)
Andrew Duke - Insidious (Cognition)
Thee Silver Mountain Reveries - There's a River in the Valley Made of Melting Snow (Constellation)  ¶ 10:56 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  I went to Kraftwerk last Friday (04/23) in Toronto. The show was at the Ricoh Coliseum, which is part of the CNE.

Short review: what a great show. Go see them. They don't tour often.

Long review: Kraftwerk were very good. Four guys on a stage on a raised platform, dressed identically in black suits with red ties. Each was standing at keyboard with a laptop on top. I couldn't tell you what they were actually doing, they certainly didn't move much.

Behind them was a very wide screen, with three projectors making the pictures. They had full videos for every song. No extra lighting or lasers.

They did all their most famous songs, including Trance Europe Express, Autobahn, Tour de France, Numbers, Radioactivity and so on.

I think anybody who likes dance music would have enjoyed the show. Quite simply, almost all of today's dance music can be traced back to them. Every electro track that's ever been written, most techno, and most prog and trance could be heard in their tracks. I admit they've probably updated their sound since the original releases, mostly with heavier bass and more lush production.

They did a prog version of Tour de France which could easily be played by John Digweed at any Bedrock night.

They did the original Tour de France, which is the granddaddy of every melodic breaks track ever.

Their version of Radioactivity was just as good, and maybe better, than Atlas - Compass Error (Tarrentella vs. Redanka mix). (And I love that Atlas track.)

Trance Europe Express sounds like everything Autechre's ever written.

And yes, the robots did perform. People cheered just as loudly for them. I still don't know what to make of that.

After the robots they came back on wearing suits that glowed like skeletons in UV light. They exited the stage one by one, until it was over. But their music was still playing, and the last track was of course "Music Non Stop", with the vocals repeating over and over.

I will try and upload some pictures to my webshots album soon. Most are a little shaky, since I was far away, at full zoom, and the long exposures didn't help.

Anyway, see them if you can.   ¶ 11:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Bad news on the music front: Orbital, perhaps my second favourite band in the world after New Order, are breaking up, dissolving the partnership, calling it quits, whatever you want to call it. After 15 years and tons of excellent and classic tracks, they will be missed by many. A complete discography is here. You can sample any of their tracks here. Some of their greatest are Belfast, their first single and hit Chime, Halcyon + on + on, Lush 3-1, Nothing Left, and The Box.   ¶ 11:04 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 042 - April 19, 2004

Flowchart - Fast Forward (rmx by Lali Puna) (Morr)
Casino vs. Japan - Marilyn Set Me Free (Attacknine)
Hellothisisalex - The New Judy (White)
Amon Tobin and Bonobo - I'll Have the Waldorf Salad (Ninja Tune)
Anthony Rother - La Bete (Psi49net)
Radioactive Man - Strong Booze (Transparent Sound mix) (Rotters Golf Club)
Bochum Welt - Telegame (Device)
Denzel + Huhn - Rye (City Centre Offices)
L'usine - Dr. Chinme (Mental.Ind.Records)
Kit Clayton - Impetigo (Orthlorng Musork)
Manual - It's Night on Planet Earth (Darla)
Kape Ill Meister - Top (A13)
Matthew Dekay - More Money, More Power (LowRiders)
Flash Brothers - Release Time (Benz and MD's 5am mix)
Invisible Inc. - Stars (Sumsonic)
Mara - Satisfy Me (Shafunkers mix)
David Morales and DJ Pierre - Make it Hot (Pierre's Wild Pitch mix) (Definity)
Christian Cambas - It Scares Me (Micali and Ajami mix) (Bedrock)
Luke Chable and Jono Fernandez - Come To Me (Vapour)
West Magnetic - Give it UP for Freelet Let Us Down (Ultrasound)
Dragosh - Strange Potion (Tox)
  ¶ 9:51 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  It's about time someone invented working Star Trek: TNG-styled communicators.   ¶ 2:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  International Astronomy Day Starnight

This Saturday is International Astronomy Day. My club, the RASC Niagara, will be holding events in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. On Saturday at noon there will be telescopes set up outside the Starbucks at Fairview Mall. These will have special solar filters for observing the sun and its spots. Later, beginning at 5 p.m., we will be set up at Firemens Park in Niagara Falls. Until the sun sets solar telescopes will be set up. After sundown there will be slide shows, and telescopes set up for looking at Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the stars and galaxies. If you aren't local, here's a list of Astronomy Day activities across Canada and the States.   ¶ 1:17 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Where Does Your Name Rank?

Philip (90) Downey (1235). Pretty high for first name, medium for second. Find your rank here.   ¶ 4:33 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  A Winner Is You!

or, The Top 10 Worst Video Game Translations Ever.   ¶ 4:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 041 - April 12, 2004 : Old School Special

Deep South - I Believe (Murk)
Adonte - Dreams (Kickin)
Photon Inc. - Generate Power (Strictly Rhythm)
Lou - Freaky (Strictly Rhythm)
Mr. Fingers - Washing Machine (Trax)
No Smoke - Koro Koro (Warriors Dance)
Mariah Carey - Dreamlover (David Morales Def mix) (Columbia)
Kym Mazelle - Was That All There Was? (Def mix) (EMI)
Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives (Arista)
Atlas - Beauty (Jackpot)
Barbarella - Barbarella (Pound + Smith mix) (Rising High)
Fluke - Slide (Justin Robertson mix) (Circa)
Gat Decor - Passion (Tag)
51 Days - Paper Moon (Touche)
Desert Storm - Scoraig 93 (Soma)
Leftfield - Song of Life (Columbia)
Fuse - Mantrax (Plus8)
Teste - The Wipe (Plus8)
Pet Shop Boys - Left to my Own Devices (Disco mix) (Parlophone)
Bump - House Stompin' (Good Boy Records)
One Tribe - High As A Kite (ffrr)
  ¶ 11:06 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 040 - April 5, 2004

Michael Mayer - Fabric 13 Radio mix
Soylent Green - On The Balcony
Richard Davis - In The Air (Further's Acid Relapse Edit)
Thomas Schaeben - One Night In The Dizko
Glissando Bros. - Funk Food
Superpitcher - Mushroom
Mayer mix ends
Maetrik - Pounds (Treibstoff)
Hakan Lidbo - Meda (Trigger)
Hakan Lidbo - Botox Beauties (Trigger)
Fym - Oyster (Telegraph)
Transillusion - Consequences (Rephlex)
Static - Get Me Something Cold (City Centre Offices)
LFO - Nevertheless (Warp)
Casino vs. Japan - Troidic (Attack Nine)
Global Goon - Jerky Dharma (Rephlex)
Herrmann & Kleine - Headlights (Morr)
Meaty Ogre - Leo vs. Pisces #8 (Galapagos)
Beef Terminal - Daydream of Wasted Time (Noise Factory)
Millimetrik - Hommage Aux Gens Qui N'interesse Personne (Statik)
Galerie Stratique - Jolie Fille Sous la Pluie (Statik)
Bochum Welt - GTE (Device)
Phonem - Euphrates (Morr)
Cujo - Northstar (Ninja Tune)
Squarepusher - Tetra Sync (Warp)

Next week: Old School!
  ¶ 11:20 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  It's the showdown we've all been waiting for: Televue and Astrophysics slug it out to find out who really makes the best!  ¶ 4:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post