Underworld

Well, as you already understand, when I arrived to Jerusalem my head was in full B-Boy-style Hip Hop mode... on one hand... and deeply into Drum'n'Bass - on the other... So the developing interest in deep techno and disco-influenced house may sound really odd. And it still remains a mystery to me, because this is the only influence that with a time had no further development. Four-to-the-floor beats simply don't work well for me. But back in 1999 it was still a sort of sensation. Probably - thanks to one particular band and its two key albums of the 90's. We'll talk about the techno aspect of its influence later, but right now I'd like to concentrate on their ambient/downtempo side. This song was like an exciting extension to the "Soft Mix" they did for Depeche Mode (which you already know that I like a lot). Just an amazing ambient song with a simple but deep production:

We're going on air!

I'm glad to announce that tomorrow, after nearly half a year of posts, I'm taking this blog on air through my weekly show on Raash Hour Radio! Yes, this week's "Kaleidoscope" will be presented entirely from my old tape collection, including some of the artists that I've already mentioned here earlier and far beyond that. Here's the Facebook event.

 Important to mention that this cassette special is related to my new article in this month's "handmade" issue of Af Magazine (which is not out yet, but is on its way).

Tuesday, 8.01.2013, 21:30 - 23:00, Jerusalem time. Tune in! :)

If you want me to stay

When we arrived in Jerusalem, I've finally discovered the comfort world of dial-up internet at home (in Minsk I was only going to internet cafes). The night traffic was cheaper, so soon after we connected to the web, I arranged a sleepless night for surfing through music-related websites.

One of the first places I visited that night was Warp Records website. Warp were celebrating their tenth anniversary, so many artists made special their contributions for the web-home. One of those contributions was Plaid's two-part special DJ-mix (naturally for 1999, it was available as a RealAudio stream). The first part was pretty much electronic house'y stuff, which was less interesting for me. But the second part was more in the downtempo/freestyle vein. And I was so amazed by this mix that I even recorded in on a  cassette, like I was already used to do with the FM-radio. Today I hardly remember this mix and I can't even find the tape itself. But I remember clearly how out of the glitchy hip-hop beat suddenly appeared this tune. I already knew this song, since it was covered by Red Hot Chili Peppers, but this version (that I didn't yet know was the original) was just 100 times better!