Genf - Import / Export (1997 Compost)

One more from the early days of Compost Records. Genf was one-off project consisting of three producers which is why Import/Export sounds more like a compilation of like minds. Guitars and bleeps, clicks and live drums. Though the album doesn't work as a whole, Aachen-Brüssel and Import/Export are pretty cool tracks, so it's worth listening. I've also added Aachen-Brüssel (Hans Nieswandt Whirlpool Remix) as a bonus track.

mp3 I 320kbps I 62 minutes I 144mb I link in comments

Visit Venus - Music For Space Tourism Vol. 1 (1995 Yo Mama's Recording)

1995 was extremely good year for timeless debuts. There were albums I used to spin frequently, DJ Cam, Earthling, Morcheeba, Red Snapper, Rockers Hi-Fi, to name just a few. Music For Space Tourism Vol. 1 used to be my favourite downtepo album back then and it's still good today. Laid back beats, relaxed basslines and some cool samples and keys, too. Visit Venus returned some three years after with lovely The Endless Bummer album but the innocence was gone so that's another story.

mp3 I 320kbps I 73 minutes I 168mb I link in comments

Homegrown - Unfazed / Mermaid (1999 Mole Listening Pearls)

Homegrown was a one-off project conceived by Beanfield founding member Tobias Meggle after he and Compost Records head honcho Michael Reinboth left the band. The split must have been far from friendly because this double appeared not on Compost as one would expect but on prolific Manheim-based label Mole Listening Pearls, home to such projects as De-Phazz, Nor Elle and JFC. While Mermaid contains typical late 90s trip hop with vocals by Antoinette Teurlinckx, Unfazed is a collection of enhanced instrumental versions, a perfect downtempo musical wallpaper. I remember one early morning in 2000, open-air party on an abandonned airstrip, sun slowly rising and Richard Dorfmeister playing Parchment Planet to an exhausted crowd. I'll remember that moment always.

mp3 I 320kbps I 114 minutes I 263mb I link in comments

Brooklyn Funk Essentials - Make Them Like It (2000 Dorado)

Make Them Like It? They couldn't pick a better title. File under Obsolete. This UK issue of the third Brooklyn Funk Essentials album is sadly Dorado's last 1990s long-player I own.

There's a lot of interesting Dorado stuff I've never had (Outside's fourth album Suspicious or the eponymous album by Cleveland Watkiss' Project 23), have lost a long time ago (A.P.E.'s brilliant album Striplight), plus a couple of those that fall off the timeframe of this blog (Outside's last album Out Of The Dark from 2001 or Natalie Walker's debut Urban Angel). Perhaps you could check your garage, cellar or attic and come up with the missing releases, but until then... Wait, there's always Dorados's prodigal offspring, Filter, as important for 90s breakbeat scene as Dorado was for acid jazz heads. Coming soon so stay tuned!

mp3 I 320kbps I 67 minutes I 154mb I link in comments

Jhelisa - Language Electric (1997 Dorado)

Jhelisa's second album is disappointing, to say the least. In fact it's a sellout. There's no way to compare it to Galactica Rush since this album lacks everything that made Jhelisa a true acid jazz diva - energy, passion and feeling. What's left is a bunch of poorly stitched songs halfway between bar jazz and weak r'n'b, with dull instrumentation and depressive vocals. An afternoon rehearsal of a bar band, stools on the tables and bartender polishing glasses, that's the only impression on my mind. I have to admit I slept on this album back in 1997 which from today's POV seems to be the correct attitude.

mp3 I 320kbps I 57 minutes I 132mb I link in comments

Outside - Discoveries (1997 Dorado)

The Blogger timequake seems to be over, all posts are in correct spacetime continuum, no damage done, so let's move on and finish the Dorado saga.
Despite the silly cover art, Discoveries became my fav Outside album simply because it is instrumental. These eight soundscapes made of solid beats, dark ambience and a sense for drama create a true electronic jazz masterpiece. Not a weak moment here. Enough words, try it and stay tuned!

mp3 I 320kbps I 56 minutes I 129mb I link in comments

FLAC, FAQs and Jason's c**k

Yes, as you may have noticed, this blog became kinda stale waters in the last weeks. But no, the author of these pages, who happens to be me, has not yet finished his opus. I just got succumbed by a maelstroem of accidents and incidents only life can stir about. I have fought entropy bravely while the whole universe was coming down on me heavy, which in the end sucked me off any energy I could have left for blogging.

Anyway, Future•Japan Relief Campaign went extremely well from my POV. The 20 or so posts generated about 1700 downloads until now. I have no idea how much money got collected. My secret wish is 1$ collected per download. As for those who just grabbed the files as usual: Your karma knows where you live. Expect it knocking on your door anytime soon.

Now let's go briefly through some issues that appear frequently in your emails and comments:

Comments moderation or Why my comments never appear on the blog?
I was forced to moderate comments some months ago when The Yellow Menace flooded my comments sections with paragraphs of spilled tea pointing to poorly disguised hoax-or-worse websites in god-forgotten countries. It caused the flood to stop then and saved my dear time I spent going through posts and cleaning up. Since then I filter out only two types of comments - gimme-gimmies (please keep on sending your requests, just don't expect them published unless you add some sweet remarks of this blog and its author) and you-sucks (This music blog sucks big hairy hard latin man c**k, and swallows semen, too, wrote Jason ;-). The remaining 10% gets published with reasonable delay.

Genres or not?
Some of you keep asking for genre tags. Please don't. I love the music I share with you just because it blends the genre boundaries, because it contains many genres or none at all. Future Vintage is a memorabilia blog, you'll hardly find something new or unexpected here. For those who don't remember those days and are not satisfied with the hints in accompanying short texts, there's always Discogs...

Why FLAC sucks?
Some of you keep asking for FLAC instead of MP3. Please don't. That will never happen. Why?
Reason 1: FLAC as we know it today is still a marginal format that lacks major support. None of my many MP3-playing electronic devices can handle it, except my computer. Why bother? I understand the need for lossless format when it comes to classical or accoustic music, none of which appears on this blog. Why bother? Besides, if you live in a big city or if you wear headphones on the street often, your numb ears probably won't know the difference. Why bother?
Reason 2: Let me tell you this story: I'm a cold war kid from a country behind the iron curtain. When I was young and music-hungry, the records from the free world were rare as diamonds. We used to share them in circles of trusted friends. Scratch it and you're out. A friend with good tape recorder (Dolby C of course;-) and time and will to tape the new stuff for you was a treasure. Remember, taping records happened in real time. To tape a 90 minute cassette, one had actually to pause the tape and flip the record several times. Musically, I lived off the tapes for the most part of my youngster years and later I never hesitated to do the same favor for others. When digital media blew the spot, it only allowed me to do the favor for more people; on FTP's, Limewire, Soulseek and finally here.
Shortly - I take MP3s as today's equivalent of a cassette, a practical format for sharing among friends that contains all the information while keeping a reasonable distance from the source material. If you love the music, an HQ MP3 will give all the joy. If you love the sound of your voice while rambling about compression and algorhythms, why don't you just buy the original and leave us alone?
Anyway I added some of my fav FLAC blogs in my blogroll including The Stroboscope Syndrome where you can find lossless versions of some of my posts.

Future Vintage invited the 123.456th visitor last weekend. Let me tell you the prospects for achieving 234.567th or more are bleak. Future Vintage still lives off the donations collected by the late The CTI Never Sleeps. As there wasn't a single donation during the two years of Future Vintage, I have just enough rapids to keep my gigantic Rapidshare account going for next 3 months. And then? Who knows. So if you see some value in continuing this blog and have a dime or rapid to spare, please do so. And now back to posting..

Stay tuned!