The Ruffled Crow

(My original post is at shelftalk.spl.org)

Bombay Dub Orchestra – Take a fully orchestrated Bollywood soundtrack, chop it up, chill it down and this is what you get. A 2-disc set, the second disc is remixes of disc 1. A very well done mix of base genres.

Mocean Worker is worth mentioning again. And again. A New York club DJ, Adam Dorn combines swing and jazz samples in a pure funk sauce. Portions of his stuff have been used in Lincoln car commercials. Cinco de Mowo is one of his best. You will not want to get between me and a record store when he releases a new album…

I hesitate to lump Enigma and Delerium together, but if you ever decide to have one of those “lost weekends” these two bands are the ready soundtrack for it. Delerium is generally a bit more ambient and can lean pretty far into trance, whereas Enigma is a bit more funky and likes to toss in a Gregorian Chant now and again and who doesn’t enjoy a good Gregorian Chant?

The Brit band Massive Attack pretty much defined the term “trip hop”, a neo-soul dub sound. Their Mezzanine album put them on the map here in the US. Having gone through a half dozen or so evolutions since their debut in the late 80’s there is some speculation as to whether they’ll be able to release a new album (due later this year) in full rather than a smattering of singles.

Orbital is a pair of British brothers that were big drivers of the acid house and ambient trance scene in the early 90’s. Mean beats, heavy synth, and a bit of Middle Eastern influence marks this band. Though they broke up in 2004 (rumors abound, however) they were pretty prolific, releasing 13 albums.

It’s impossible to even think about electronica without the duo Crystal Method coming to mind. CM makes it clear what “big beat” electronica is all about and beats you bigly with it. While many equate the band’s name with certain illegal, and downright scary, substances, the actual reference is to a girl. (Scarier by far, in my opinion…) Both guys had a crush on the same girl, Crystal coincidently, and after bemoaning the fact to a producer they were working with the producer blurted out the money quote “Ah, the Crystal method…” Take any of their albums and you might as well superglue your CD player’s door closed as it will be all you ever need. If you absolutely must make a choice try Legion of Boom or Vegas.

Finally, if you just want to stick a digital digit into the mix and sample some samplers a couple compilation albums that are well worth a listen are the Hackers soundtrack volume 1 and 2 – Stereo MC’s, Underworld, Carl Cox, Orbital, Moby, and Empiron are on these albums. ‘nuff said…