"narco corrido music"

While surfing I found term "narco corrido music". Got interest what it is and i found out some interesting stuff. If you know some more about this kind of music, you know to comment it is easy...
"Narco corrido music" is the contemporary Mexican corrido. The corrido is one of the most popular music styles in the Latino market, both in the US and points south. While the Anglo media pretends that the boom in Latin music sales is driven by salsa (a style that is wonderful, but currently not very popular in the Latino community), most US Latin sales are of Mexican music, and a large proportion of these are drug trafficking ballads, played in polka or waltz rhythms by accordion combos or full brass bands. Many of these ballads are in the classic Medieval style, and they are an anachronistic link between the earliest European poetic traditions and the world of crack cocaine and gangsta rap.
I found reports on radio stations banning narco-corridos. Like August 19, 2002 Baja California radio stations. They banned those popular songs on Mexican radio that celebrate drug runners -- and sometimes the murder of Mexican police. So that means that radio stations must been earning and gaining on that kind of music, otherwise they would never put it on air or never moved away from peoples ears...
Los Tigres del Norte may be the most well-known band to play narcocorridos, but they're also prevalent in northern Mexico, urban California, and in low-budget recordings sold at flea markets and other various non-mainstream venues. A longtime writer of roots and world beat music, Wald offers a travel narrative of narcocorrido sources, traveling from Sinaloa, Mexico, to Los Angeles and parts in between, searching out musicians and other insiders for their personal histories and insight. Wald's enthusiasm for the subject is clear. Still, Narcocorrido is missing something. While comparisons to gangsta rap aren't surprising, the discussion is thin. Also, why not interview drug dealers -- some who reportedly commissioned corridos to document their deeds -- or narcocorrido fans for a rounded view of the subject?
Great book on subject; Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas(2002 Latino Book Award winner as "Best Arts Book")
If you would like to get more familiar with briefly covered narcocorridos you can get a list of those few artist produce pressed, professional CDs, which limits what you might be able to find.
A history of the Mexican drug song

Nasty Nastic

Marko Nastic was born in Belgrade.
His homepage

Ever since his early days he was fascinated with synthesizers and rhythm machines, and showed interest for the electronic sound. He resided for
the first time in Belgrade's clubs Industria and Omen where he met Dejan Milicevic with whom he creates the TTP project.

In the historic club Industria he quickly arrived to the position of the program art director, and he fortified his collaboration with Gordan Paunovic and other most important Belgrade's electronic music DJ's and promoters.

His international carrier started quickly after he met with Umek and Valentino Kanzyani, who both played a key role in his beginnings as a producer and in his promotion on the international scene. From the moment he became a part of the Berlin's agency KNE'DEEP roster his carrier continued to advance.

Apart from Umek and Valentino Kanzyani, Marko Nastic always underlines an extraordinary support from DJ Rush.

He performed with all big names of the techno scene, and in almost all European cities. His first non-European tour was in 2002 in Brazil.

His favourite rhythm machine is Roland 909, and synthesiser Juno 106.

Marko publishes his music exclusively for the Recycled Loops record company, for which he already issued two EP's-"Devil in My Pants" and "Let's Get High", with which he achieved his first international success as a producer. New mixed CD for Recycled Loops is already out in Slovenia, and on June 16 it will have its World premier. He also did a remix for Martin Hare and the label Dark House Music.

In the mean time he started his own record label RECON WARRIORS; this label will include names such as Dejan Milicevic, Leon, Kobaja, but also Umek, Valentino Kanzyani and, of course, Marko himself.

His favourite clubs are M47 in Hungary, U60 in Frankfurt, Sala del Sel in Gerona and Techno Flash in Valadolid.

eating candies while mixing, Dj. Umek

While Berlin and Cologne are regarded as the hot pot for all things minimal techno, few might be aware of the slew of emerging artists from countries like Slovenia and Serbia pushing the harder, tribal, party end of the sound.

Indeed the dissolution of Yugoslavia has given birth to a number of techno DJs and producers including Valentino Kanzyani, Marko Nastic and of course Slovenia's first superstar DJ, Umek.

Entering the Top 100 DJs Poll for the first time in 2003 at No.45, it was a track under his Mumps moniker that first saw Umek thrown into the international spotlight when it was released on Billy Nasty's Tortured label. Further releases as Mumps and Zeta Reticula, on Tortured's sister label Electrix soon followed as well as remix work and original tracks on other labels including Primate, Primevil, Wet Musik, Tiesto's Magik Musik and Black Hole Recordings and more recently Carl Cox's Intec imprint.

Part owner of the Recycled Loops label with fellow Slovenian rising star, Valentino Kanzyani, Umek has well and truly illustrated he has an ear for a good tune and established himself as a respected DJ with compilations on Monoid, Tortured and TimeWarp and a steady stream of international bookings.

Despite having recently broken two ribs in a minor accident, Umek is still hard at work in the studio, finishing off a new EP forthcoming on Intec next year and laying down funky techno in DJ booths around the world.

RA recently caught up with Umek before his set at The Forum in Ireland to find out a little more about the Slovenian DJ and producer.

So have you had a busy schedule DJ-wise lately?Where have you just traveled from?

Yes I have been on the road for the last five years actually, every Friday and Saturday. It's totally crazy travelling all around the world. I haven't played in Africa but have played on all the other continents. It's amazing so I cant complain.

Yesterday I played in London at the Gallery at Turnmills. Actually I've played there 3 or 4 times before but last night was the best night. I played an early set from 12 till 2 so I could build up really nice and slowly and there was an amazing reaction from the crowd - just unbelieveable.

Where have your gigs taken you recently?

Mainly Europe because I really hate flying. I get offers for all around the world but I dont always want to go there. I have been to Japan for the second time this year although I have had so many invitations. But I only want to do it every few years. Also I haven't been to Australia for ages and I dont know when I will be going there next. I love Australia but it's so far, far away and there's always a lot of turbulence on the plane which I really, really hate.

If you were to look back on your early musical influences, who or what would you say got you first interested in electronic sounds?

It's funny because in Slovenia when I started to listen to this kind of music it was impossible to buy any CDs because it was a Communist country but I had some friends who were listening to this music so we exchanged tapes or we got it via satellite.

I listened to a radio station called Green Apple and Dance Nation was a satellite radio show where they played techno and all kinds of electronica every weekend from Friday till Sunday. That's where I got a lot of influence at the beginning of my career and then I started to DJ professionally in '93 when the scene was just starting up, progressing and building.

I was playing all sorts of stuff from trance to acid, some Detroit stuff and of course, techno but in '95 we were totally blessed with Surgeon's records on Downwards and Tresor. Those were unbelievable and completely changed my view of things. I had played stuff on Tresor before but Surgeon was doing totally different stuff at that time. It was fresh. In 2000 I changed to funkier stuff with more percussion.

Looking back at the early scene in Slovenia were there opportunities available to play at club nights? Was it difficult in those early days?

There was nothing. Actually there were only a few club nights where the DJs played CDs. There were bands like Brugasia and people playing EBM; all sorts of electronic music but I couldn't say proper techno.

How did you make the progression from DJ to producer and was there anyone who influenced you in that respect?

The thing is when I started to play music, I wanted to know how this music was done and I met some friends who were already into this kind of thing in Slovenia. Back then they showed me a lot of things. I didn't have a clue at the start and I wondered whether it was a live band or if they used machines. It was funny, so funny.

You had some earlier releases on Planet Rhythm, CLR and Missile before signings to bigger labels. How did the move from being a DJ/producer in Slovenia to getting releases signed for Tortured and Primate come about?

In the beginning I was sending around at least 100 demo-tapes a month to different labels. They didnt like it but then I got my first deal and bought better equipment with the money and then the bigger labels got interested and so on.

Your Mumps releases on Tortured gained you recognition particularly in this part of the world but you also released your "Voices of Africa" series along with other releases on Primate and also some electro releases under your Zeta Reticula moniker on Tortured's sister label Electrix in addition to your many other remixes. Your sound has changed as you've taken on different projects. Is that important to you as a producer?

I have been DJing professionally for more than 10 years. I think it's 12 now, actually. I'm sure a lot of people are changing and I will always change when i feel the need because some music doesn't give me what it used to give me.

It seems like you are looking to diversify your sound with each new project. Is it difficult to keep coming up with the next thing or next sound as a producer?

No, not at all because I'm always trying different things in the studio. This is the thing. I can do quite good house. I can do some crazy electronica stuff and I can do proper techno records. So yes, I am always trying new stuff.

Your DJ sets of late seem to have moved on from the more tribal sounding records that were for example on your Monoid mix cd in '99. Are you exploring different sounds at the moment?

I have done 3 official mix cds which sound, in my opinion, very similar - Monoid, Tortured and Timewarp. This is from when I started to play funky techno with percussion and this kind of thing. Now, it depends. I'm doing kind of minimal, electro, more downtempo techno which I play at a night in Slovenia which has gone on for a year and a half and is an amazing success. So I'm sure I'm going to do different things as well.

You work of course with fellow Slovenian Valentino Kanzyani on the Recycled Loops label. How did this collaboration first come about?

The collaboration started because we were both residents in a club called the Mesodicavioli. Valentino was just starting to produce and he didn't have much experience. The guys from the club wanted to start a label so we got some interested acts that promised they would do a record but then we left that club.

So Valentino came to my studio and we did some stuff together and this is it how it became Recycled Loops as a project on Primevil number 13, I think. From that release we started the label, calling it Recycled Loops.

The labels' tracks represent a funkier techno sound and have been championed by Justin Robertson, Slam, Adam Beyer, Carl Cox and Deetron to name but a few. Was the concept originally to release funkier material?

We were, at that time, recycling a lot of sample CDs and we got all these loops and were making new beats from that so this is where the name came from. Then of course we just started to released our stuff but then we signed Marko Nastic, Hertz and all of those kind of artists. Our music is changing these days but still not changing a lot if you look at the progression in the music.

Your work rate as a producer has been fairly prolific. Which other labels are you currently involved with?

I am going to have a release on Intec, a proper EP, finally and a new thing on Recycled Loops. For the last year I've been trying a lot of new things. They are not ready yet but I want them to sound fresh and be the bomb.

Do you intend to keep DJing just as much or do you see a time when you will concentrate more on studio work?

I love to DJ but I would love to have more time to spend in the studio as well because I'm n the studio from Monday to Thursday and then I go to a club, come back, then go to a club and then back home. I would really love, in the future, just to play two weeks in one month which means 4 gigs a month and then spend more time in the studio. Definitely!

Apart from your Neuro album on Tehnika in 2002 have you made any other attempts to record an artist album?

Actually this is a funny story. I made a similar styled album to Neuro but I had so many singles out, so many remixes, that I still have it at home. I didn't release it but now it's gonna be a kind of 'The Best of 10 Years of Umek' available as an mp3 file or CD, where there will also be all these new tracks along with the ones from the EPs I made.

Most DJs find it hard to make the transition to a recording artist. Have you had any difficulties or has this allowed you to experiment with sounds away from the usual dancefloor oriented stuff?

It depends how long you spend in the studio. Some artists do one album a year and are in the studio for 2 or 3 months and they can take their time. I'm in the studio almost every day when I'm at home so this is just a natural thing for me. I just go there and make music. I dont know if this is the proper way or not. Everyone has their own idea on how to make music.

Lately the growth and rise of techno has been more evident in Eastern European countries and particularly your own Slovenia. Can you see any particular reason for it being received so well at home?

Honestly there aren't many producers or acts who are exported from Slovenia. There's just Laibach, me and Valentino so this is probably why we have huge support. The young crowds realise that if you're a DJ from Slovenia you can make it and go all around the world.

Do you think techno has helped unify its followers or bring cultural diversity to a region torn apart by past conflict?

In Yugoslavia there were 7 republics. Slovenia had, if you can say it, a war. There were a few people killed but it only lasted 10 days in comparison to the other republics so I don't see that happening as much but if you ask someone from Bosnia i think they will tell you a totally different story. Slovenia is the only republic in the European Union which makes a big, big difference.

What have been the positive elements that this scene has given Slovenia?

Before there was nothing; no electronic parties. Now we have a big amount of people, mostly a techno crowd, a small house crowd and an even smaller trance scene. Techno is really number one.

So do you have any plans musicwise for the future or do you anticipate changes within the techno scene on the horizon?

Right now it's changing rapidly. In Germany there's really hard techno like Schranz and the minimal sound. It's going to change and has already already changed a lot of DJs perspectives on music. I've seen it.

Has the advent of digital mixing had an effect your DJ performance and has the growth of CD mixing affected the potential sales of your vinyl releases?

You can't work against it and you need to adjust. It's always about the music. I mean people are gonna download music legally or illegally. Actually I don't mind.
As long as we have crowds in the club and people want to hear you then there's no problem. For the last 10 years we haven't earned that much money from records. Maybe people like Joey Beltram and all those big guys who were making hits like 12 years ago made money because vinyl was selling at that time. When I started to sell on vinyl we made some money but it wasn't a big amount. So for me it's more important to see that the crowds at gigs are up for it and having fun and if the clubs are full. I'm happy then

What would you say have been your personal career highlights to date?

It's funny. For example, Gatex, a track I did which nobody expected to do well. I can't pinpoint one thing. It's everything - the production, the gigs, the festivals I've done. It's impossible to just pick one.

Has there been any one person in particular who has had the single biggest influence on your life, your music?

Yeah...of course,of course...but it's changed from time to time.There have been different guys over the years but the last one who really changed my view, music production-wise, was Surgeon in '95. Other than that my influences would be the club scene and club music itself.

Is there any country you would like to DJ in that you havent been to yet?

South Africa or somewhere in Africa.

Finally, where are you off to next?

I don't have a clue. My agents are taking care of everything and every Wednesday or Thursday I get my email. I get all the emails months in advance but I always erase them so I always only know on the Wednesday or Thursday where I'm gonna play that week.

biggest passion music, but he likes madona too

Tiesto likes the work of Madonna because her music shows that she likes to dance.
Tiesto web site, shit, not working.
he maight done some real god work in music, but seems like that is all.
Trance is the name applied to a type of House music that tends to be faster than normal, rarely features vocals and is built around layers of shimmering, intertwining synthesizer riffs.Music has always been the biggest passion in Tiesto's life and he felt the need to share that passion with other people. Between 1985 and 1993 he performed as resident in several clubs in Holland and in these years he developed an important foundation:

With a massive following in Europe, club culture has propelled itself into the mainstream, thereby bringing its players a higher profile. This is the birth of a new, fresh generation of performers, artists and producers. Tijs Verwest, a.k.a. DJ Tiesto, is coming to North America and aficianados of progressive electronic dance music had better take note. A mainstay in his native Holland, DJ Tiesto has long had a passion for sharing music and first played records at drive-in disco shows early in his career. He soon moved to the clubs where his sound focused on club and popular music from the Dutch chart parade. Eventually he narrowed his scope mainly to house music, a simple hybrid of beats laden over a bass-heavy groove, and started to create his own distinctive style. This recipe makes for an exciting time as Nettwerk Records presents to you DJ Tiesto: Summer Breeze, a hand-picked selection of anthems that will make your head sway. The opening track is "Dido", a beautiful progressive trance track with vocal samples derived from a Henry Purcell opera and remixed by Armin Van Buuren (DJ Tiesto's collaborator on projects such as Major League and Alibi) to give us a taste of the future. Also featured is Oliver Lieb's dark treatment of the Kamaya Painters (DJ Tiesto and M.B. de Goeij) track "Far From Over." John Johnson, master of deep progressive trance, gives us his reconstruction of Dawnseekers' "Gothic Dream", and one of DJ Tiesto's own productions is a massive tune entitled "Sparkles" (a chart topper earlier this year played by all the top progressive DJs overseas - Euro diva Sonique had this one in her charts for weeks). Representing North America's premier electronic dance acts are Nettwerk artists BT (Libra's mix of "Dreaming") and Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan (DJ Tiesto does an epic mix of "Silence"). DJ Tiesto's producer skills are highlighted as well, namely on his Magikal Remake of Yahel's gorgeous "Going Up;" on Jaimy & Kenny D's pumping club anthem "Caught Me Running;" and with Major League, which gives us the frantic frenzy of "Wonder?" in its true original form. While many DJs tend to follow the alluring trend of playing only massive tunes with minimal appeal, DJ Tiesto sets himself apart from the pack by hand-picking tunes that will linger with people hours after the club has closed. With this seamlessly mixed spectrum of songs, DJ Tiesto wants you - whether you're an avid club jester or just someone who yearns to be swept away - to take Summer Breeze as a testimony to his passion for sharing music.

Old School of Carl Cox

Dj Carl Coxs profile

By 10 I had well and truly caught the bug and was spending every bit of my pocket money on soul and funk records. I got my first pair of decks (just the 2!) by the age of 15 and I started to play as many parties as I could, discovering that I could buzz off a crowd whilst funding my habit at the same time. As the 70's became the 80's I followed the musical trend from soul to disco to hip-hop but it wasn't really until I moved to Brighton in 1986 that I discovered, along with so many others, the pure thrill of acid house.

I can't remember a time without the strains of soul music drifting through our house. With both parents coming from Barbados I was brought up very much in tune with a natural party ethos that went hand in hand with a love of good music. My earliest musical memories are of Booker T and the MGs, Aretha Franklin and, of course the great Elvis, and I used to hijack my parents collection of 70's soul 45's and get the whole family grooving round the lounge! I guess the early signs were there - my passion for music combined with an over-whelming desire to entertain as many people as possible.

So much has been said about one of the greatest DJs in the world. Carl Cox has excelled as a producer, artist, remixer, radio DJ, businessman, and ambassador for dance music. In the UK he is a full-blown 'Pop Star'. As anyone who has met him will attest, Carl Cox is the living embodiment of the perfect gentlemen, the DJ diplomat and progressive music pioneer.

Carl Cox began 1996 with the launch of his own record label, Worldwide Ultimatum, releasing his debut self-produced album 'At The End Of The Cliche'. This album was a culmination of influences gained from 18 years of the experience. It took over two years to complete ans stormed up the UK charts attaining a position of #22. In addition, he began his own management company, Ultimate Music Management, which has blossomed under his watchful eye and boasts a roster which includes such well-known DJ's as Josh Wink, Laurent Garnier and Judge Rules.

Carl Cox's achievements do not stop there. He has appeared on Top of the Pops and in 1996 was awarded the International Dance Award "Dj Of The Year" for the second year in a row. Muzik Magazine crowned him "DJ Of The Year" in their readers poll and he received "Best DJ Of The Year" accolades in Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany. He has graced the covers of England's biggest music magazines including Mixmag, Muzik, DJ and Wax. Cox also joined the prestigious team at London's Kiss FM radio station with his own "Ultimate Mix" show on Saturday nights and was awarded the "DJ Mixer Of The Year" by its listeners.

Carl Cox has rocked dance floors the world over and has conquered corners of the globe previously left untouched. Maintaining a constant tour schedule, playing throughout the UK and Europe, he recently mesmerized thousands in Israel, South Africa, Japan and Australia. Cox appeared at the legendary Love Parade (one of the world's largest raves) in Berlin playing to over 80,000 people. He is the featured DJ this year at T In The Park, and continues to play the UK's biggest clubs including Slam, Cream, Lakota and Minstry Of Sound.

Signing an exclusive deal with Moonshine Music here in the United States, this is the first time any of Carl's work has been available domestically. F.A.C.T. 2 is the follow-up to his highly successful F.A.C.T. which sold over 70,000 copies in the UK alone.

Techno Music

Techno music came out of Detroit in the 1980's, and carried the influences of popular electronic music of the 1970's to the dancefloors. The music features regular, pouding beats coupled with distorted synthesized sequences.

The best known early techno producers are Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, sometimes known as the Belleville Three. They made music for clubs that was a urban take on the music of German musicians like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream were making. While Techno made it to the clubs in Chicago and New York, it was a largely underground style throughout the eighties.

What is Techno?

TB303 TB-303 TB 303Techno is pure electronic music, originally designed for dances, that combines the sound of classic German electronica with an american Urban feel. The music emphasizes the machine sound of electronic drum machines, especially the Roland TR-808, and often is based around repetitive riffs played on bass line sequencers like the Roland TB-303.
The history of techno starts in Detroit. The style emerged there when musicians took cheap, used electronic instruments and abused them in ways never intended by their creators. Early techno artists drew on science fiction and futuristic themes in their music. The techno sound depicted a place unlike the aging Detroit city where it was born. The music and the themes of the songs were intended to sound like something from the future. “It’s an attitude to making music that sounds futuristic,” according to techno pioneer Juan Atkins, “something that hasn’t been done before.”
One of the best known early techno songs is "Alleys of your Mind", by techno artists Cybotron. Works from Atkins, May and Saunderson didn't make the charts, but were very influential because they were played in major clubs in the US. In 1988, a compilation called Techno! The New Dance Sound helped define the style.
In the 90's, artists in Europe began to take the Detroit sound of early techno songs and morph it. New variations were created, including acid, ambient techno, hardcore, and jungle. The techno style has gained more popularity in Europe than it has in the United States, because electronica has been popularized more in Europe than in the US.
Techno has been associated with raves since the nineties. The idea of a rave is just a techno party where like-minded techno fans can get together and dance to continuous dj mixes of electronic music. These have been particularly popular in Europe. In 2000, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival became one of the largest and most significant electronica events in the world. It was free and attracted hundreds of thousands of techno music fance from all over the world.
Synthtopia Techno Reviews
Bjork - Debut
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Debut was released in 1993, and it sounds as adventurous and free-spirited as ever. Bjork sings fearlessly, turning her relatively weak voice into one of the strongest voices in electronic pop music.
BT - Emotional Technology
Saturday, November 22, 2003
BTs latest is full of his trademark audio wizardry. The production is hot, but do the songs measure up?
BT - Movement in Still Life
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
BT is at his strongest on trance tracks, but on Movement in Still Life he takes on a new genre with every song. His hyperkinetic production style reaches new extremes as he slices and dices the sound with ginsu aplomb. Not the pure trance album that many listeners may want, Movement in Still Life is a great album nevertheless.
BT-ESCM
Thursday, December 18, 2003
BT hits a home run with ESCM, a near-perfect collection of trance and dance tunes that showcases his technical chops and musical vision.
Carl Cox - Phuture 2000
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Cox delivers a mixed bag of techno and house dance tracks on Phuture 2000. At its best, Phuture 2000 is state-of-the-art minimal dance music. Even at its worst, the music sounds just sounds like Cox needed a couple of tunes to pad out the album.
Chemical Brothers - Push the Button
Friday, April 15, 2005
?The Chemical Brothers are back and, unlike some of their contemporaries, they refuse to fade away. On Push the Button, they enlist a interesting set of collaborators, giving the album a variety of sounds without sounding fragmented.
DJ Sandra Collins - Tranceport 3
Saturday, April 17, 2004
DJ Sandra Collins handles the mixing duties on the third incarnation of the excellent Tranceport series. Previous disks, mixed by Paul Oakenfold and DJ Dave Ralph, effectively established the Tranceport identity - interesting trance mixes for dancing or listening. Collins delivers another winner with this smooth collection of trance and techno sounds.
Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Slim's loop-based style is in abundance on this CD, and there's more than enough beats, 303 bassline, and catchy hooks to keep dance electronica fans happy.
Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Fatboy Slim delivers the big-beat techno sounds that he is famous for. This Funk Soul Brother may be a middle-aged white guy named Norman Cook, but on this release, he proves that he can lay down the beats with the best of them.
Ilya - Dreaming Loud
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The latest cd by Ilya, Dreaming Loud, is a polished set of 14 original trance compositions.
Klaus Schulze - Body Love
Thursday, December 04, 2003
"Body Love" had inauspicious beginnings as the background music of a erotic movie by Lasse Braun. Instead of the cheesy jazz typical of 70's adult movies, Klaus Schulze pumped out a masterpiece of throbbing electronica.
Madonna - Ray of Light
Sunday, January 04, 2004
The latest music from dance divas Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears vear off into electronica territory, but they never rise to the level of work that Madonna has been putting out for years.
On Ray of Light, Madonna works with electronica artist William Orbit, and the result is one of the best combinations of the electronica and pop worlds ever put to CD.
Moby - Hotel
Friday, April 15, 2005
Hotel, the latest CD from Moby, is a two-cd set that delivers some of the most intimate work that he has ever done.
Orbital - Blue Album
Monday, September 13, 2004
The latest album from UK electronica pioneers Orbital, entitled the Blue Album, finds the Hartnoll brothers returning to their roots. The brothers make no concessions to current trends, instead staying close to the sound they created on their earliest CDs. The new CD, which said to be their last, is a fitting finale..
Orbital by Orbital
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Orbital's self-titled debut collects some of their earliest singles, and though the cuts are nearly 15 years old, they hold up well.
Paul Oakenfold - A Lively Mind
Sunday, July 30, 2006
The first single from the latest Paul Oakenfold CD A Lively Mind, is scorching hot. Is the rest of the CD as hot?
Paul Oakenfold - A Vogage Into Trance
Sunday, January 04, 2004
This twelve-track mix collects some great trance cuts and combines them into a non-stop DJ mix. A great release from one of the top DJs in the world.
Propellerheads - Decks and drums and rock and roll
Sunday, November 30, 2003
The album name sums up the sound of this album. It is full of loops, samples, and drum machines, but also manages to rock on many cuts.
Robert Miles - Dreamland
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Robert Miles' 1996 album is a set of upbeat, melodic trance cuts. These are targeted to a mainstream dance audience, and are filled with catchy melodies. These tunes sound great at the club, but are equally at home at the dance floor as the are in the chill-out room.
Sarah McLachlan - Bloom Remixes
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Bloom brings together an A-list of remixers and gives them all a chance to work with some great material. The remixers include Sly & Robbie, DMC, DJ Talvin Singh, Junky XL, and Thievery Corporation.
Sylver - Nighttime Calls
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Nighttime Calls is full of uptempo dance tracks. The production is solid throughout, the tracks are full of hooks and Sylver seems to be intent on keeping the dance floor moving.
The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
This 1995 album put 'big beat' into the lingo. Plenty of sampled loops, squelchy TB303 basslines, and a compressed kick that won't quit add up to upbeat, danceable techno.
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Sunday, January 11, 2004
The first album from The Orb had a distinctive sound when it was released. It mixed ambient music with downtempo grooves, creating a pop ambient style that has helped move ambient music into the mainstream.
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Beaucoup Fish is not the ultimate Underworld album that fans may dream of. Instead, it is a challenging, sometimes messy album that seems richer with each listening. The uncompromising approach Underworld takes on Beaucoup Fish keeps the music a little edgy, and makes it a treat for electronica fans.
Various - Animatrix
Thursday, December 11, 2003
If you thought the two Matrix sequels were overhyped, you're not alone.
On the other hand, if you missed the animated feature The Animatrix, you missed some of the most exciting visuals and storytelling of the series. The soundtrack CD is exceptional, too.
Various - komposi003
Friday, April 28, 2006
komposi003 is the third compilation from Positron! Records, and features tracks from Aizome, Amish Rake Fight, Atomica, Bounte, Micronaut, Milkfish, s.sturgis, and Scanalyzer.
Various - South Beach Sounds-Miami Music Week Vol. 1
Saturday, April 29, 2006
South Beach Sounds-Miami Music Week Vol. 1 is a CD/DVD collection that takes viewers on a trip to one of the top electronic music/dance events in the world, Miami Music Week.
Techno Music Sites
Digitally Imported
12/25/2003
This very professional site brings the latest european techno and trance music to the net. DI has several free streaming stations, including techno, trance, vocal trance, hard trance, chillout, and hardcore.
Moby
11/27/2003
Moby has been one of the most popular an influential electronica artists of the 90's and the new millenium. His site has a journal that he frequently updates, information on new releases, message boards, and his intelligent essays on a variety of subjects.
MP3.com.au
12/25/2003
MP3.com may be dead in the US, but this Australian version is worth checking out!
Tangerine Dream
11/27/2003
This is the official website of Tangerine Dream, and is a very polished, professional site. There is news, a history of Tangerine Dream, its members and performers, a discography, and a photo archive. There are audio clips from their albums, and even a TD store.

The term "techno" is derived from "technology". Music journalists and fans of the genre are generally selective in their use of the term, careful not to conflate it with related but distinct genres (i.e. house, trance, hardcore). At the same time, the term "techno" is commonly generalized to refer to all forms of electronic music.

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan (some argue that it may have been born in Europe) during the mid-1980s with influences from Chicago House, electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at that time. Following the initial success of Detroit Techno as a musical culture — at the very least on a regional level — an expanded and related subset of genres in the 1990s emerged globally.

Origins

Techno was primarily developed by "The Belleville Three", a cadre of men who were attending college, at the time, near Detroit, Michigan. The budding musicians – former high school friends and mix tape traders Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson – found inspiration in Midnight Funk Association, an eclectic, 5-hour, late-night radio program hosted on various Detroit radio stations including WCHB, WGPR, and WJLB-FM from 1977 through the mid-1980s by DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson. Mojo's show featured heavy doses of electronic sounds from the likes of Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream, among others.

Though initially conceived as party music that was played on daily mixed radio programs and played at parties given by cliquish, Detroit high school clubs, it has grown to be a global phenomenon. High school clubs such as Snobbs, Hardwear, Brats, Comrades, Weekends, Rumours, and Shari Vari created the incubator in which Techno was grown. These young promoters developed and nurtured the local dance music scene by both catering to the tastes of the local audience of young people and by marketing parties with innovative DJs and eclectic new music. As these local clubs grew in popularity, groups of DJs began to band together and market their mixing skills and sound systems to the clubs under names like Direct Drive and Audio Mix in order to cater to the growing audiences of listeners. Locations like local church activity centers, vacant warehouses, offices and YMCA auditoriums were the early locations where the underage crowds gathered, and where the musical form was nurtured and defined.

The music soon attracted enough attention to garner its own club, the Music Institute at 1315 Broadway in downtown Detroit. It was founded by Chez Damier, Derrick May and a few other investors. Though short-lived, this club was known internationally, for its all night sets, its sparse white rooms, and its juice bar stocked with "smart drinks" (the Institute never served liquor). Relatively quickly, techno began to be seen by many of its originators and up-and-coming producers as an expression of Future Shock post-industrial angst. It also took on increasingly high tech and science-fiction oriented themes.

The music's producers were using the word "techno" in a general sense as early as 1984 (as in Cybotron's seminal classic "Techno City"), and sporadic references to an ill-defined "techno-pop" could be found in the music press in the mid-1980s. However, it was not until Neil Rushton assembled the compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit for Virgin Records (UK) in 1988 that the word came to formally describe a genre of music. Some European techno fans, however, credit the genre name techno to German DJ Talla 2XLC who allegedly used it as a specific music genre label in his record store as far back as 1982, while "The Belleville Three" didn't happen before the mid-80s. Talla's band Moskwa TV had often been featured on Midnight Funk Association, the inspiration of "The Belleville Three".[citation needed]

Techno has since been retroactively defined to encompass, among others, works dating back to "Shari Vari" (1981) by A Number Of Names, the earliest compositions by Cybotron (1981), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love"(1977), "From Here to Eternity" (1977), and the more danceable selections from Kraftwerk's repertoire between 1977 and 1983. These electro-disco tracks share with techno a dependence on machine-generated beats and dance-floor popularity.

In the years immediately following the first techno compilation's release, techno was referenced in the dance music press as Detroit's relatively high-tech, mechanical brand of house music, because on the whole, it retained the same basic structure as the soulful, minimal, post-disco style that was emanating from Chicago and New York City at the time. The music's producers, especially May and Saunderson, admit to having been fascinated by the Chicago club scene and being influenced by house in particular. This influence is especially evident in the tracks on the first compilation, as well as in many of the other compositions and remixes they released between 1988 and 1992. May's 1987–88 hit "Strings Of Life" (released under the nom de plume Rhythim Is Rhythim), for example, is considered a classic in both the house and techno genres. At the same time, there is evidence that the Chicago sound was influenced by the Belleville Three — allegedly, May loaned Chicago-based house musician Keith "Jack Master Funk" Farley the equipment to make the classic track "House Nation"; early Detroit techno records reportedly sold well in Chicago; and Atkins believes that the first acid house producers, seeking to distance house music from disco, emulated the techno sound.

coming saints

It was first released in the somewhere in the 70s and then remastered and made a hit in 2006. The U2 and Green Day version of “The Saints Are Coming” can now be found also over the radios in Romania, becoming an instant hit.

The story of the song starts somewhere in the 70s as it was first released by The Skids and became quite popular at that time. Then, in end of 2006, U2 and Green Day played a remake of that hit in the opening baseball game in Louisiana, giving the song a two-faced meaning: first is a song played in the memory of the victims of the Katrina hurricane and second it became the opening song for all the games of the New Orleans Saints baseball team.

The video also features an interesting footage of the army deploying help for the victims of the floods - but the images are actually not reflecting the reality, they are just arranged in such a way to give an indication of how things should be done and is actually a criticism to the Bush administration for not taking firmer action in helping the Katrina victims.

Overall, the song is an excellent one, where two bands joined forces for creating an amazing spectacle.

mozart portrait

fist read about icons

Gallery discovers Mozart portrait

The portrait's subject was previously unknown Art experts in Germany say a painting in a Berlin art gallery is probably the last portrait painted of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The picture was painted by the German artist Johann Georg Edlinger in 1790, a year before Mozart's death. The picture was identified as a Mozart portrait when an expert on the composer used computer analysis to compare it with another painted 13 years earlier. The Gemaeldegalerie says it will go on show on 27 January - Mozart's birthday. The oil painting, measuring 80cm by 62cm (31.5 inches by 24.5 inches) was acquired by the gallery in 1934 and was only recently restored. It had been purchased from a Munich art dealer, as a portrait of an unknown subject. The senior custodian of the art gallery, Dr Rainer Michaelis, recently commissioned extensive computer analysis of the painting and asked Mozart expert Wolfgang Seiller to investigate. "Mr Seiller noticed there were strong similarities between the subject of the portrait and Mozart," he told Berlin's BZ newspaper. It is thought the portrait was painted during Mozart's last stay in Munich in 1790. He died of a mysterious illness in 1791 aged 35.