With Christmas approaching I wrapped up a very nice World Music compilation. It contains favorites that I discovered in the last three years with songs from all over the planet! There would have been at least six more hours but I will skip those for the next compilation ;) If you like any of these songs I recommend you to dig into the full albums as well! For the credits please check the full post. The youtube playlist contains most of the songs if you want to access all just hit the download button.
I've always been a big fan of Autechre's work. With their genuine style of electronic music which varies from catchy IDM tunes to (quite) abstract soundscapes they always manged to add something very exciting to their records. Besides the large number of albums and eps they were also busy as bees putting out a large number of remixes. Unfortunately, an official compilation was never released (maybe due to rights issues?) and so a couple of years ago I compiled a 6 disc home brew collections of Autechre's remixes all created between 1994-2005.
The tracks which are in rough chronological order display also the evolution of Autechre and more general the the change of electronic music over a decade. From dreamy ambient tracks like Saint Etienne's"Like A Motorway (Skin Up, You're Already Dead)" over to pushing tracks like Merzbow's "Ecobondage [Ending] Ae Remix" and abstract pieces like Hecker's "Itiso161/ae". My favorites are probably "Autechre Play Weissensee Against Im Glück" (composed by Neu!) with its drifting beats and the beautiful collaboration with post rockers Tortoise on "Ten-Day Interval (Adverse Camber)". The youtube playlist below features some of the compilation's tracks.
This version of Laxir is the second version which was finished in 2008 seeing some minor updates and including some cover artwork. You will also find included in the archives a text file with more specific information about the individual tracks. Cheers!
There is a thing about compilations: They exist since the beginning of records but unfortunately they are too often used as a dumping ground for various reasons with songs not matching each other. Rarely, you find compilations that make a sense of their own. Dinastía Inmortal, Cuarto Acto is such a release. It is the forth release (hence Cuarto Acto) of the Mexican label Dinastía Inmortal delivering a compilation of their Gothic Metal bands.
It takes off with the well known band Anabantha ("La Persecución y la Cruz") and continues with one hit after another. What I like is that all songs is that they are all sung in Spanish a language which surprisingly seems to be very suitable for Gothic Metal. Other highlights include "Santa Maldad" of Arcadia and "Sangre por perdon" of Valle de la Muerte. Those 9 songs perfectly matching together make you return to this record over and over again.
It is beautiful to see how the Internet helps with the distribution of content. How difficult would it have it been to find and to listen to a Mexican Gothic Metal underground release 15 years ago in Europe? Impossible I would say. We live in great times...
