This Is 20kbps!

I mentioned the swiss label 20kbps rec. in my post regarding the Colorsmoke EP. Now I felt it was time to show some of my favorite tracks from that dynamic, underground label. I have made a mega mix consisting of some of my very favorite works that are available for free on this label. Some of the tracks here are at a lower bitrate than the original, so some songs will sound better downloaded directly from the label. There is just something very other worldly about these delicious lo-bit pieces. The label has a wide variety of artists from all over the world. It is the most independent and diverse label I have ever stumbled on to, and constantly surprises me. The cover art shown here is available at Plan 59 for viewing or purchase, it just seemed to go well with the strange mega mix I created.

01 - Olga & Fritz - Track 1 (Mio Star EP)
02 - Agent Orange - Micrology
03 - Copyright Killer - In Misery We End
04 - Deemage - Coriander
05 - Is....Dead - Chemical Scent Imprint
06 - Agent FF6600 - Heizung An
07 - Old Oldman - Noss
08 - Pimuri - Kitchenbeat
09 - JKP - Vivaldi's La Primavera Excerpt
10 - Vivcaro - Erna
11 - Maiden China - How To Be Reflected In A Puddle Full Of Dirt
12 - eVADE - Summer
13 - No Artist - I Retrieve Cereal From High Voltage Systems
14 - Idle Flight - Alaska Beckoned
15 - Death On Glamour - Refresh Yo Mind
16 - Deemage - It Will Never happen
17 - Agent FF6600 - Ninja
18 - Synthetic - Brown Smoke
19 - Mr Dee - Shot #10
20 - Overthruster - Lamers
21 - Vivcaro - Majong's Garden
22 - Pharmacon - Bach's Fugue 02
23 - Agent FF6600 - Cotton Walk On Sparks
24 - Maiden China - That's The End, Thank You

Link to 20kbps MegaMix
Link to Separate Tracks

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte (Electronics Only)

A Closet Of Curiosities has posted a link to an exceptional collection of actual Stockhausen recordings. The sound is superb and the selections are exquisite. The only problem is that Kontakte is broken down into several seamless tracks, which lost their seamlessness in the mp3 transfer. So I'm offering a link to a re-patched, seamless version in one track. The tracks were painstakingly re-joined on Acid Pro 5. This is the version of Kontakte that features Stockhausen's Electronic sound with no orchestral accompaniment. I recommend highly that you check out their link to the complete album, and of course, buy it if you can, it was issued on Verlag. The front cover art here is by me - Steve Engler.

Download Link

Synthetic-Colorsmoke EP (2007)

This is my first release for the Swiss net label 20kbps rec. It is an attempt to fuse electronica and psychedelic music. The label is one of the most famous lo-bit labels in the world, meaning that the music is encoded at 8-40 kbps. I decided to treat lo-bit almost as an effects pedal, utilizing the low fidelity to my advantage. Songs 1, 3 & 5 are dance numbers that admittedly would probably sound better at higher bit-rates, but songs 2 & 4 are actually better at the low bit-rate of 20kbps. The song titles were somewhat influenced by Davis Redford Triad's Blue Cloud, as well as Miles Davis's Aura album. Purple Smoke is influenced by Neu and Weasels era Zappa, Yellow and Brown Smoke are inspired by Eraserhead, Psychedelic music and Skinny Puppy. Red and Green Smoke features an old Casio VL-1 synth/calculator playing a random melody in the background. To give listeners a choice, I gave 2 versions of Song 5 to choose from, one is in stereo, the other is made to simulate being played on an old suitcase style turntable. I also gave a choice of 3 different CD covers to choose from, one of which was designed by Dutch graphic artist Norbert Croonenberg (lower picture shown).

The album is available free at 20 kbps rec. and I highly recommend some of my labelmate's albums like: Old Oldman's The Tender Ass and Deemage's Nothing Happens Everything Changes.

Link to 20kbps rec.