Lovely Recordings

One of the things that I enjoy about Audiostream is that the focus is on music that is more challenging than the usual fare for audiophile magazines/websites. In that spirit I have compiled a list of recent downloads with a focus on synthesizer, electronics and space.

Syrinx: Tumblers to the Vault (VNG Intl., 2016)
Sax, percussion and Moog create a folky organic vibe that's the hallmark of Syrinx. Based in Toronto, they were one of the first rock bands to make synthesizers integral to their sound. They released two albums on the Canadian True North label and this compilation includes them both plus some live recordings. Several friends of mine saw them live and the albums are an accurate documentation of their live sound.

Available from Bleep

Sinoia Caves: Beyond the Black Rainbow (Jagjaguwar, 2014)
Sinoia Caves is Jeremy Schmidt, keyboard player for Black Mountain. This is the soundtrack for a recent Sci-Fi Horror movie and nails the spacey eeriness of 70's electronic horror movie soundtracks (i.e. John Carpenter and Goblin). Lots of Moog Taurus bass pedal, string synth choir, and organ sprinkled with drums, vocoder and Mellotron.

Available from Bleep

Laurie Spiegel: The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds, 2012)
This music was made with a Bell Systems computer and features hypnotic pulsating drones a la Terry Riley fused with futuristic folk music. It was a double album originally so there's a lot of music in this download.

Available from Bleep

Maggi Payne: Ahh Ahh: Music for Ed Tannenbaum's Technological Feets (Root Strata, 2012)
The music on this album was made with an Apple II computer and seems to be part of a bigger multi-media project. Lots of interesting textures and definitely not tinkley delicate new age music.

Available from Bleep

Dub Syndicate: Echomania (On-U Sound, 1993)
What's a selection of electronic downloads without a dub album? Dub is interesting because it balances electronics and artificiality of time and space (tape delays, phasers and spring reverb) with organic performances of live musicians and singers. Echomania is Dub Syndicates masterpiece and features Lee "Scratch" Perry vocalizing on a number of tracks. Adrian Sherwood is renowned for his prowess on the mixer and this is one of his best productions.

Available from Bleep

Antena: Camino del Sol (Permanent Vacation, 2006)
French electro-bossa nova from the early 80s. Nice drum machines and laid back vocals that any bossa nova chanteuse would be proud of. All and all a charming and easy to listen to album.

Available from Boomkat

Bobby Hutcherson: Linger Lane (Blue Note, 1975)
Linger Lane features Bobby on marimbas instead of his usual vibes and the woodiness of the marimba adds to the mellow vibe of the album. If you were ever wondering where Tortoise got their sound from look no further than the track "NTU". This is one of the best sounding DSD downloads that I've heard: warm, detailed, with a rhythmic gestalt that sounds like a real band playing together.

Available from Acoustic Sounds

After learning about Bleep on Audiostream I checked out some of the 24-Bit recordings and these are two of the downloads that I purchased:

Bernard Fevre: Cosmos 2043 (Anthology Recordings, 2015)
One of the hot record collector genres is 1970s soundtrack library records. Some of these types of records go for shocking amounts on eBay. Original pressings of Fevre's work goes for hundreds on auction sites. There's a reason why his records sell for so much: it's musically interesting and still sounds fresh today. The short tracking time of these pieces vary from 1:38 to 2:38 forcing them to be concise and focused like electronic haikus. This is available as a 96kHz/24-bit download. Once I heard them I bought all of his available download albums.

Available from Bleep

Z aka Bernard Szajner: Visions of Dune (InFiné, 2014)
Another French album from the 70s: electronic progressive rock minus the pomp and flab. The original album length is doubled with bonus tracks, which are as good as the album tracks. The album is haunting and hallucinatory, which works for a soundtrack for Dune, because the spice found on Dune is a powerful time and space traveling drug. Next stop Arrakis.

Available from Bleep

After being a record collector for a number of years, I sold my collection and just listened to cd rips on my car stereo and then I downloaded some FLAC 192 and DSD files and they reminded me of the kind of rhythmic musicality, realism and detail that I've heard from reel to reel copies of master tapes. Collecting reel to reel copies of master tapes is an expensive hobby ($350 a pop, based on what an acquaintance charges of copies per album), but hearing various 24-bit recordings get you very close to that zone minus the sound of reel to reel motors spinning at 30 i.p.s.

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