V.A. Saturday

In late 2020 Dutch label Music From Memory released Virtual Dreams, a triple vinyl/ download album (with different tracks on the two different releases). Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age , 1993- 1997 took up residence on my turntable, six sides of vinyl that featured ambient techno from a slew of electronic artists including Richard H. Kirk, The Primitive Painter, LFO, Bedouin Ascent, Dubtribe Sound System, MLO, Pulusha and LA Synthesis. The compilers did a superb job, selecting and sequencing the lost, the obscure and the beautiful, presenting the futuristic music of the mid- 90s in such a way that it sounded like a cohesive album and utterly fresh and weirdly contemporary. It was a sound, as they said, that came from the chill out rooms, from the spaces next to the rooms where everyone was dancing, where people wanted to slow down and contemplate/ come down. 'Ambient in this new age now though had sharper teeth', the sleeve notes said, 'than in Brian Eno's keynote text Music For Airports, instead the sounds here the mode of transport rather than the backdrop.'

Virtual Dreams is futuristic, machine music made by humans with emotions, with new technology at their disposal and looking upwards to space, outer pace and sci fi and a cyborg inner space too. It's a perfect various artists compilation album. The digital version of Virtual Dreams is here. 

This is Levitation by The Primitive Painter- glassy synths, warm pattering drum pads, and a familiar female vocal sample, all bound together by some unearthly robotics. The Primitive Painter were Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke, and yes, they named themselves after the 1985 indie classic by Felt.

Levitation

Music From Memory are about to release a second volume of Virtual Dreams, this one shifting their ambient techno focus to Japan in the same 1993- 1999 time period, where in the clubs of 1990s Japan ambient- techno went by the name of 'listening techno'. Rob wrote a great review at Ban Ban Ton Ton this week with some of the tracks up to listen to- you can read it here. Virtual Dreams II is at Bandcamp. 

A Lockdown Mix

An hour and four minutes of music for lockdown. This lockdown hasn't been any fun at all. The novelty of the first lockdown has been absent and in the two darkest months of the year, it's been difficult. There are at least some glimmers of light now, the vaccines, the numbers starting to come down but I don't have much confidence Johnson will make the right call on Monday and fear that he is in thrall to the voices on the right wing who want to unlock everything as soon as possible. No one wants to stay in lockdown any longer than necessary but I think many of us would rather soldier on for another month or two with a very gradual loosening than open up quickly, chuck away all the gains and end up with another surge in cases and lockdown four in April. 

It's easy to be overwhelmed when faced with all this, all these problems and issues that are beyond our control. As Richard Norris said recently, 'music is the answer'. This is a mix I put together recently, starting out with some street sounds from the BBC's extensive online archive and a bit of Blade Runner, some drones and spoken word, something from Luke Schneider's astonishing steel pedal ambient album, more ambient music with guitars and pianos and synths and then a second half that opens up and lets the light in, a bit of optimism before the strings and drama of Two Lone Swordsmen remixed by In The Nursery. It's at Mixcloud. 

• Romanian street sounds (morning in Bucharest)/ Leon’s Voight Kampf Test
• Andrew Weatherall and Michael Smith: Estuary Embers
• Luke Schneider: Anteludium
• Mark Peters: Ashurst’s Beacon (ambient version)
• Daniel Avery and Alessandro Cortini: Illusion Of Time (Teodor Wolgers Rework)
• Smoke Test: Regress
• Ganser: Bags For Life (GLOK Remix)
• The Primitive Painter: Invisible Landscapes
• Underground System: Bella Ciao (Laguna Mix by Gigi Masin)
• Seahawks: Sky Is You (Pye Corner Audio Head Tek Remix)
• Two Lone Swordsmen: In The Nursery Visit Glenn Street

Monday's Long Song

One of my favourite albums of 2020 came out right at the end of the year, released by the Dutch label Music From Memory, a triple vinyl compilation called Virtual Dreams (Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age, 1993- 1997). It is a beautifully packaged release and the music within the six sides is beautiful too, slow motion, transporting, ever so slightly trippy, trancey, machine music infused with human emotions. Many of the artists on the album made club music, high tempo, high octane dance records but would also slow the tempo for a B-side, cuts for home listening and the inevitable comedown. The track selection and running order are superb and it sounds like one cohesive album, almost as if these tracks from twenty- five to thirty years ago were designed to end up next to each other in in the next century. 

I bought the album based on a review by Robert Harris (Dr Rob) at his Ban Ban Ton Ton blog in November. It's here. Be warned- I read Rob's piece and went straight to purchase. Some of the artists may be known- Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire appears as do fellow Sheffield bleep pioneers LFO and The Primitive Painter was a 90s vehicle for Roman Flugel but many of the names are only dimly familiar. MLO, Pulusha, Spacetime Continuum, LA Synthesis, Bedouin Ascent. The full tracklist is here. This one, Rainful Memories by by MDA Analog, is only on the digital release. The combination of the sound of rain falling, the children's voices and the washes of synth is like having a warm bath in analogue sound. 

Virtual Dreams is completely in tune with what I've been listening to for the last year. I realised it also has some crossover with the 1993 mix by Andrew Weatherall, the so- called Massive Mellow Mix (real name Sabresonic Slow Electric Vol. 1) which I wrote about here. The name that crosses both is The Primitive Painter and handily their 1994 album has also had a recent re- issue (by Dutch label Apollo/ R&S). Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke grew up in Frankfurt and hearing the sounds coming out of the UK on labels like Warp and out of Detroit on ones like Transmat they made an album of 'gauzy, melodious electronic'. The Primitive Painter took their name from Felt and declared themselves to be children of C86, inspired by the DIY attitudes of Felt, The Jesus And Mary Chain and the C86 bands. This track, Cathedral, sounds nothing like The Pastels or Primal Scream but having had a burst of C86 at this blog and others recently everything seems to be coming together nicely. This is ten minutes of gorgeous, hypnotising sound. You can buy the album here. 

Cathedral