1. •  
     CommentAuthorGumbi
   • CommentTimeApr 3rd 2014

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   My first idea was to make a really eclectic selection of tracks that I loved in different periods of my life, but such a selection (from French and Italian 80s synth disco to ambient, from shoegaze to hip-house and IDM) simply would not work together in form of a 60-minute mix. So instead I decided to concentrate on a single musical genre. And if I am to choose one genre and period in music history that influenced my own output, it is definitely ambient techno from mid 1990s. While IDM scene has been evolving and developing for all these years, ambient techno has nearly disappeared from the radars in the 2000s. I am really happy to see a kind of a comeback (at least I feel similar mood in some releases coming out on labels like Carpe Sonum, Spectrum Spools, Psychonavigation, …txt and more). This mix is both a hommage to the past and a hope for the future.

   The Orb “Montagne d’Or” (from “Orbus Terrarum”, Island, 1995)

   I never get tired of The Orb. Every time you listen to their albums you can find something new, a hidden layer or some peculiar harmony appearing as a result of sample overlapping. I was a bit late to get into their music (didn’t like “Adventures” at first when it came out), but “Orbus Terrarum” made me a hardcore The Orb fan. Seen them live in New York last year and still can’t believe the band is 25 years old. Even Pink Floyd were younger when I started listening to electronic music.

   The KLF “Madrugada Eterna” (from “Chill Out”, KLF Communications, 1990)

   “Chill Out” opened the world of ambient music to me. I first heard it in early 1993; I was into dance music at that moment and KLF were one of my heroes. The music on “Chill Out” was totally different, totally weird and totally awesome.

   Amorphous Androgynous “Mountain Goat" (from “Tales of Ephidrena”, Astralwerks, 1993)

   FSOL are one of the very few artists who manage to be equally good making completely different types of music. I like all of their reincarnations from late 80s acid house to current psych-rock experiments, but “Tales of Ephidrena” and “Lifeforms” is their golden era. That type of sound hasn’t been developed or even replicated by anyone (while almost every Autechre album gave birth to a musical subgenre and hundreds of followers).

   Sven Väth “L'esperanza” (from “Accident In Paradise”, Eye Q, 1993)

   This is what I call a real hit. Catchy melancholic melody, dubby bass, ambient atmosphere and a breakbeat backbone. Both Sven Vath / Ralf Hildenbeutel’s albums on Eye Q are excellent, conceptual sagas with music varied from trippy techno to modern classical (and long before modern classical became “hip”). I really like the “progressive” element in dance music, too bad there’s not much of this music available. Lindstrom’s “Where You Go I Go Too” is a rare example.

   Banco De Gaia “Kincajou (Duck! Asteroid)" (from “Last Train To Lhassa”, Planet Dog, 1995)

   Too bad I can’t use the whole 37-minute version in this mix. It’s gorgeous. I still can’t solve the puzzle of endless trippy tracks that can last forever without getting boring (Cabaret Voltaire “Conversaion” and Dreamfish “Hymn” are good examples of this form too). Hope to make a 60 minute single-track record one day :)

   Gas “Microscopic" (from “0095”, Em:t, 1995)

   Emit label is an essential part of mid 1990s ambient mythology. I can’t say I love every Emit CD from the beginning to the end, but this time it’s easy to pick a favorite track. I played it so much on repeat that the CD started skipping :) Mat Jarvis, the man behind Gas (not to be confused with the German Gas which is Wolfgang Voigt) has got another ambient album under the name High Skies (“Sounds of Earth”, 2010) and it sounds like a lost Emit record!

   HIA & Namlook “Secret Location” (from “S.H.A.D.O”, Fax +49-69/450464, 1997)

   I first got into Pete’s label via “Fax Compilation” on Instinct USA (for some reason American CDs were much easier to get in Russia at that time) and became a FAX fan since. A large part of my CD collection is black and blue discs with circles and triangles. It’s really hard to pick one album or track from their catalog, but I can’t imagine any fax top albums list without “SHADO” (this CD has a very special IDM/electro vibe unlike most “pure ambient” fax CDs) and “Sea Biscuit”. No air-time for both of them, so here is a HIA / Namlook track and please give a Spacetime Continuum CD a detailed listen later :)

   Woob “Wuub” (from “0094”, Em:t, 1994)

   Another gem from Em:it, a track representing a really good album. I am half-Armenian and my father’s family is from Tbilisi, Georgia, maybe this is the reason I am into “ethno electronic dub” acts like Banco De Gaia, Loop Guru and Woob. Some kind of “Asian roots” combined with western cultural background. I was happy to get into this field later with my band Jermook. We had more trip-hop and IDM instead of dub and ambient, but the “ethno” component was there presented by Armenian singer.

   The Irresistible Force “Snowstorm” (from “Global Chillage”, Rising High, 1994)

   Of all the ambient labels from mid 1990s it is Rising High that I love most (I’m talking about their album series which is like an ambient sublabel apart from the 12” catalog that is mostly techno and trance). They had an excellent artist roster (from Luke Vibert to mysterious Japanese M-Age and Tanzmusik), unique sound and artwork style. It’s not so well known as FAX, so you can buy their records quite cheap, which makes Rising High a record collector’s dream. I have almost all their album catalog on vinyl :) Again it’s hard to pick one album, Neutron 9000 “Lady Burning Sky”, MLO “Io” and both Irresistible Force albums are equally good.

   The Visions of Shiva “Perfect Morning” (from “Perfect Day EP”, Eye Q, 1992)

   Ambient masterpiece by Paul Van Dyk (can’t believe it’s him? me too!) and Cosmic Baby. The German “early trance” scene and especially Cosmic Baby have been a great influence to me. I first heard about him in a Pet Shop Boys radio interview back in 1993 when they came to Moscow to film “Go West” video (they mentioned Harald Bluchel as one of the new artists they like). It’s so strange to see Paul becoming such a big star and Harald going completely low-profile. Ironically, the albums Cosmic Baby released on his own label in 2000s are really good.

   Speedy J “Symmetry” (from VA “Artificial Intelligence II”, Warp, 1994)

   Like KLF’s “Chill Out” was my bridge to ambient music, “Artificial Intelligence” series was my beginning of IDM. It’s AI with tracks by Beaumont Hannant, Speedy J, Autechre and B12 that made me say to myself “hey! It’s time to make my own music!”

   Reload “The Biosphere (Global Communication Remix)”

   Everything Pritchard and Middleton have recorded between 1993 and 1995 is fantastic, and their reworks of tracks by other artists (or even reworks of their own stuff) are perfect examples of what a creative remix should sound like. The only record missing from their discography is the second part of “Remotion” (which they never released) with a bit more upbeat remixes like this one along with reworks of Aphex Twin, Slowdive, Softballet etc. It’s nearly 20 years since the release of “Remotion”, time for a 2CD / 4LP jubilee edition :)

   http://incongru.org/~gumbi/WordsOnTracks/WordsOnTracks_55/ambidextrous%20-%20influences.mp3

♫