"Alcachofa" by Ricardo Villalobos

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I'm liking this muchly -- particularly the broken vocoders and that really weak slap bass track...

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 5 March 2004 05:06 (twenty years ago) link

Oh you mean the ambient dance mix of Jerry Was a Racecar Driver?

Andy K (Andy K), Friday, 5 March 2004 05:21 (twenty years ago) link

I mean My Name Is Mud.

(I could never keep Primus' songs straight.)

Andy K (Andy K), Friday, 5 March 2004 05:31 (twenty years ago) link

This album is no longer available in the US damn damn damn me for spending my money on food insted of buying it when it came out.

Sigh

hector (hector), Friday, 5 March 2004 05:53 (twenty years ago) link

It's not?!?!?

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:09 (twenty years ago) link

Wow, it's not on Forced Exposure or Other Music so I guess it isn't. Weird. I'm glad I bought it when I did (and thank you Amoeba for having it used for $6 and thank you stupid SF people for not giving a shit about microhouse.)

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:13 (twenty years ago) link

holy shit - not on amazon either

cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:26 (twenty years ago) link

Yea no kidding.. I guess I just have to keep digging at the amoeba down here in LA.

I think they price things up down here more than they do up in SF. Everytime I go to the Height store there is a ton of stuff available and some of the guys actually know what I am looking for.

hector (hector), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:27 (twenty years ago) link

The dance guys in SF are very good and pretty knowledgeable, but there seems to be flat out no demand for most Kompakt, Perlon, Playhouse stuff and thus it gets priced insanely cheaply (except for the label comps and things that get talked up a lot like Akufen which are priced normally) so you find things for like $5-$7 (I've never paid more than $8 for a single artist Kompakt album at Amoeba.) They don't backstock any of this stuff new though so if you want an old(er) record (like Immer which I've never seen for sale anywhere, for example) than you are sort of out of luck. I don't know how that compares to LA though.

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:36 (twenty years ago) link

doesn't sherburne live/work/write in sf?

cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:38 (twenty years ago) link

Yup.

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:39 (twenty years ago) link

I may be buying his promos actually haha

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 5 March 2004 06:40 (twenty years ago) link

i think tower records online may have a couple copies left hector!

vahid (vahid), Friday, 5 March 2004 07:00 (twenty years ago) link

It's being repressed at the moment, so will be back. I had one of the last vinyl copies in the UK in the post to me. And it never arrived.

Damn Royal Mail.

___ (___), Friday, 5 March 2004 10:04 (twenty years ago) link

that "weak slap bass track" is the best thing on it! but i can't justify buying the whole damn thing just for that! damn you villalobos!

ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:48 (twenty years ago) link

I should clarify -- by "weak slap bass track," I meant that the slap bass is most definitely lame as shit, but that it's one of the things that makes the song so excellent.

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:53 (twenty years ago) link

ambrose, that "slap bass track" was released on a 12" single so you don't have to shell out for the full length.

Philippe (Philippe), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:59 (twenty years ago) link

I do live in SF, but believe me, if you're microhouse used those ain't my promos. Even when I get doubles I keep'em.

Alex is right though, there seems to be little demand for Kompakt/Perlon/Playhouse in SF. Aquarius gets a few Kompakt bits but they have an admitted aversion to "dance music." I've never seen Playhouse or Perlon there. Amoeba gets a few Kompakt bits, the occasional Perlon, the occasional Playhouse, but only as new releases, I think. They never restock that. ('cept maybe for the Total series.) Tweekin' is yr best bet, though again it's mostly as new releases ('cept for Playhouse).

To bring this back to Villalobos, I'm a little disappointed w/ his mix for Luciano's "Alain Brito" on Peacefrog. Very deep and ripply but somehow missing the internal drive that his deep'n'ripply mixes of Heiko Laux, Auch, etc. have had. He seems to be going further and further from the dance floor. Perhaps that's not true - he's just shown he has no interest in peak moments, is much more interested in the long, drawn-out perpetual now. A very good thing, normally, but that track's not doing it for me.

philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Friday, 5 March 2004 19:17 (twenty years ago) link

I agree about the Villalobos rmx. I keep waiting for something to happen, and then the synths come in and the track kinda sputters from there. Plus the rhythms are just enervating and lack the usual bounce and muscle. Oh well, the price of admission is worth it for the ace Luciano side!

Has anyone heard his Rob Hood remix on Logistic yet?

Philippe (Philippe), Friday, 5 March 2004 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

I haven't gotten that Logistic mix yet, but the Ultrakurt one is really, really good. The French are owning it...

philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Friday, 5 March 2004 19:42 (twenty years ago) link

Thanks Vahid for the tower recommendation I think I got it on the way.

As far as the demand for microhouse in SF the same goes for LA if not worse. At amoeba they refused to order the stuff until the Mayer Fabric Mix came out, now they stock a few titles mostly Mayer related. Can we all be so far off the boat that no one in California is listening to this stuff?

I mean its even kinda poppy and fairly easy to digest, its not like its Merzbow. Which I can find plenty of at Amoeba.

With the passing of EFA, Muzik, ect. is dance music going back underground?

hector (hector), Friday, 5 March 2004 19:52 (twenty years ago) link

four months pass...
YEAH! Fuck California.

AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 02:08 (nineteen years ago) link

yea!

hector (hector), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 03:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I wasn't sure what to expect from this record -- everytime I've seen Villalobos live he played fierce, pounding stuff -- but I finally got around to hearing it recently and I'm loving it. It's an impressive piece of minimalism.
If someone had played "Dexter" for me, and told me that it was a remix of Joy Division's "Heart and Soul", I'd have have believed it without question. What a beautiful and original track. (I believe there's an entire ILM thread on this track)

Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 03:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah what's up with his fucking dj sets? My biggest disappointment of the year was hearing him play at sonar. Grr.

Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 04:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I like fierce, pounding techno, but his was a case of too much of a good thing. Eventually I found myself wishing it would please stop.

Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 04:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, granted that Sonar set (I'm assuming you mean him & Richie?) was a freaking 8000 person room at peak hour -- a slot that often goes to Mills, Cox, et al, so they pretty much had to go banging. My favorite Villalobos gigs are when he collaborates w/ someone like Luciano (as Sense Club) and they do a decks + laptops kinda thing, like the Sense Club + Akufen + Cassey Britton gig at MUTEK Chile this year. Actually, I've seen Ricardo really go deep just DJing as well, but that's been in tiny clubs, never on a scale like Sonar.

philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 06:14 (nineteen years ago) link

Hes at Fabric with Craig Richards the week I'm back in London - do I go?

AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link

To clarify my last post -- I wasn't referring to the Sonar gig (which I didn't attend) but to the times I saw him at MUTEK. And in fact, the one gig I had in mind when writing that was a peak hour/Cox-y slot on a weekend night at Metropolis, so yes, he had to go banging.

I suppose the "problem" with such a slot is that you've got to take a no-bullshit, let-it-all-hang-out approach. It's got to be a sequence of peaks, with no time to build up, cool down, and stretch out. In that way, I think he's better if he plays for four hours rather than an hour and a half. For instance, Villalobos and Dandy Jack played for a million hours on the last night of MUTEK 2002 and I was never bored.

Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:17 (nineteen years ago) link

tell me about Sense Club.

AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Inspired by the revival I've been playing this just now as I cook up some tomato soup. Very good stuff indeed! Has helped the time pass well.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 02:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Tomato soup!

AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 02:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Homemade, my friend. Tomatoes just picked two hours ago by me, fresh basil that old as well, onions and more. It will be a treasure (and fresh bread as well).

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Ned, you foodie!

AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Yay!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:14 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
new RICARDO VILLALOBOS:

RICARDO VILLALOBOS: thé au harem d'archimède

Details of a new mini album from RICARDO VILLALOBOS, due October 11th on Perlon.

RICARDO VILLALOBOS

Here are the details on the new Ricardo Villalobos mini LP on Perlon. Out October 11th, 2004 in Europe. Which is roundabout October 12th over here. When promos arrive I will let you know.

Ricardo Villalobos
thé au harem d'archimède
(Perlon)

3x12" / CD

perlon43/perlon43cd

tracklisting:3x12"

A1. hireklon
B1. serpentin
B2. forallseasons
C1. théorème d'archimède
C2. hello halo
D1. temenarc 1
D2. temenarc 2
E1. miami
E2. stereobox
F1. true to myself

tracklisting: CD

1. hireklon
2. serpentin
3. forallseasons
4. théorème d'archimède
5. hello halo
6. temenarc 2
7. temenarc 1
8. miami
9. true to myself

Archimedes' theorem defines the buoyant lift: Diving an object into a vessel full of water causes an increase of pressure inside the vessel. The displaced amount of water, i.e. the lifting force is equivalent to the object's body volume, i.e. its weight-force.

Transfering this theorem to the music of the overwhelming parallel universe of Ricardo Villalobos' new triple EP/album length CD, one will realize the following: Diving all of its notes into reality results in the displacement of the same to a high degree, since the music has an enormous volume by expanding airily. Which means nothing but the musical principle of psychedelics taking effect here. This time by using the method of reduction, Ricardo is closer to the tradition of the cultured jam sessions by the legendary German 70es musicians' collective Ash Ra Tempel around Manuel Goettsching (known from his Prototech solo production "E2-E4") than to the simply structured march through occasionally rather uninspired club metrics.

While experiencing this uniquely fascinating work the amazed listener is witnessing a musical terraforming, at the same time the colonization of the new planet: every single track creates a mystic space in which sound elements are able to spread out in all directions. Teeming, often melancholically coloured sound organisms awake on the field of free flows - among them Flamenco patterns ("Hireklon") or warming bass lines ("Miami"). Just as one is used to it concerning the tracks within Ricardo's DJ sets, which hardly can be marked by a simple definition of beginning and end any more. A confining grid is dissolved almost completely, physical laws are replaced by emotional ones - by the mathematics of intuition.

Ricardo's percussive talent is undisputed: the sophisticatedly elastic rhythm meanders of Latin American/Caribbean origin sound as if they have been introduced to the wild from the base of a cool, impeccably clean laboratory which is located somewhere in the Science Fiction vastness of the Chilean Atacama desert. The loss of sense of time appears in favour of the event of intensity. Frequently the tracks appear surprisingly volatile, despite the considerable playing times of several titles which are absolutely required for exhausting the free, rhythmic modulatons. One wishes them to last forever, like the whole production.

In the staggers of these animating blurrings of perception Archimedes' theorem transforms into the romantic image of "Tea in the harem of Archimedes". This synthetical mind expansion of bizarre beauty is highly addictive!

Source: Forced Exposure/FE Publicity e-mail

DJ Martian (djmartian), Saturday, 28 August 2004 13:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Niiiiiiice.

adam. (nordicskilla), Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link

someone is getting paid too much to write forced exposure promos

m. (mitchlnw), Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I want some of what person was smoking when they wrote that.
Can't wait for the album though!

Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Guys, also midheaven and turntablelab are good sources of dance and realted approaches that other places ignorantly ignore (although I'd also keep an eye on forcedexposure)(sometimes amazon uk, if you wanta deal if thier mail order etc.)

Don, Sunday, 29 August 2004 02:27 (nineteen years ago) link

"With their mailorder," that is (meaning: international orders in age of War On etc. o course)

Glitchy Don, Sunday, 29 August 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Once again dance pushes the boundaries over what a mini-lp means

Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 29 August 2004 03:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Remember those sixty minute Underworld CD singles?

Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 29 August 2004 13:35 (nineteen years ago) link

SWEET. i cannot wait to hear this.

big baby jesus, Sunday, 29 August 2004 15:46 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
On first listen this is really good, if lacking in hooks.

toby (tsg20), Thursday, 23 September 2004 13:00 (nineteen years ago) link

101st best album of the 00s

teh pow! (blueski), Thursday, 23 September 2004 13:09 (nineteen years ago) link

btw by "this" i meant the new mini lp, if that wasn't clear...

toby (tsg20), Thursday, 23 September 2004 13:11 (nineteen years ago) link

...it wasn't!

adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 23 September 2004 14:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Puns are great! Thé au harem....HA!

scotstvo (scotstvo), Thursday, 23 September 2004 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link

so.. does no-one have anything much to say about 'harem' or did i miss the thread where we talked about it? i'm rather liking what i've heard of it, though somewhat cautiously.

m. (mitchlnw), Thursday, 7 October 2004 20:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah I know they are in there I would just prefer to have the same album and the extra tracks on an ep.

YGH is not in there btw!

Moka, Wednesday, 30 July 2014 07:28 (nine years ago) link

in my world of young dance music vinyl, having one side 45 with one track and one side 33 with two tracks is a pretty standard move and hardly some unique trolling exercise by mr villalobos

Tim F, Thursday, 31 July 2014 00:13 (nine years ago) link

it's certainly not unusual and as mentioned upthread is to do with maximising volume on each side depending on the length. unless you have an incredibly high end turntable, it's not really that much hassle to change the speed as you change sides, is it?

stirmonster, Thursday, 31 July 2014 01:11 (nine years ago) link

Are the 45 sides the ones more likely to be played out? That'd also make sense.

mh, Thursday, 31 July 2014 01:58 (nine years ago) link

My turntable cost about £150 15 years ago - ie it's entry-level - and to change speed you have to take the platter off and manually adjust the belt drive. So that is a hell of hassle for flipping speeds as you change sides, actually.

But I own Alcachofa on CD, so...

Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 31 July 2014 09:43 (nine years ago) link

All mine it's only ever taken flicking a switch, only trolly move is never mentioning it on the sleeves bt he prob likes the idea of ppl listening to it at the "wrong" speed anyway

sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Thursday, 31 July 2014 09:50 (nine years ago) link

i have a lot of admiration for this record and villalobos overall, but i find it hard to love. sometimes i feel like he is the autechre of dance music

marcos, Thursday, 31 July 2014 13:31 (nine years ago) link

A+ zing

sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Thursday, 31 July 2014 13:37 (nine years ago) link

I thought autechre were the autechre of dance music

mh, Thursday, 31 July 2014 13:53 (nine years ago) link

lo i don't know in what universe autechre makes dance music

marcos, Thursday, 31 July 2014 14:21 (nine years ago) link

less so these days

mh, Thursday, 31 July 2014 14:24 (nine years ago) link

Damnit I thought that ws the joke

sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Thursday, 31 July 2014 14:29 (nine years ago) link

sometimes i feel like he is the autechre of dance music

You mean that he's very good at it?

ed.b, Thursday, 31 July 2014 14:49 (nine years ago) link

Gotta agree with Marcos. I admire the guys skills at putting together groovrs, but his music is often kinda alienating and gray. Very much like Autechre, yeah.

Tuomas, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link

plenty of autechre tracks could bang in a set.

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link

haha like what?!

the late great, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link

"eutow" maybe

the late great, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:29 (nine years ago) link

idm always was a bit of a contradiction in terms

TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:39 (nine years ago) link

"montreal"?

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:39 (nine years ago) link

not bang i guess, but work as an offset for a harder track or vocal. in a context where no one knows or cares that it's idm.

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link

idk

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:43 (nine years ago) link

yeah I can see early early autechre working in some sets, lots of incunabula i bet would work too

the late great, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link

flutter! maybe.

festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:48 (nine years ago) link

i sort of take it back though, not a lot of banging autechre. i mean it's mostly chilltime for sure.

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:49 (nine years ago) link

anyway lots of dahnce vinyl switches between 33 and 45. i thought it was about maximizing levels / sound quality esp. bass?

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 15:51 (nine years ago) link

I've heard their work used well in a few mixes but it's usually a remix they did, or a short segment dropped in by Surgeon or other djs of his ilk

mh, Thursday, 31 July 2014 16:02 (nine years ago) link

plenty of autechre tracks could bang in a set.

― mattresslessness, Thursday, July 31, 2014 11:26 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha like what?!

― the late great, Thursday, July 31, 2014 11:27 AM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― mattresslessness, Thursday, July 31, 2014 11:26 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"oh yea, you know, like 'q3ztuuu,' '0102303-394,' 'XIDIDIII"' loads others!"

marcos, Thursday, 31 July 2014 16:14 (nine years ago) link

lol

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 16:15 (nine years ago) link

"I admire the guys skills at putting together groovrs, but his music is often kinda alienating and gray"

You know how people say that when you're about to freeze to death you start feeling all warm? A lot of Villalobos tracks have that effect on me.

Matt DC, Thursday, 31 July 2014 17:07 (nine years ago) link

to be fair you can really fall into those grooves after the first eight hours of dancing

mh, Thursday, 31 July 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link

it doesn't bang necessarilly but

LOWRIDE

brimstead, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:02 (nine years ago) link

Dancing to Autechre is easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiLK7S2fXqQ

Moka, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:18 (nine years ago) link

Surgeon could probably pull off "second bad vibel" in a set

brimstead, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link

^would listen so hard

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link

dance too, lol

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link

yeah iirc he (surgeon) actually has used autechre in several online mixes

the late great, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:40 (nine years ago) link

you could say autechre has been a "tool" of the "surgeon"

mattresslessness, Thursday, 31 July 2014 18:42 (nine years ago) link

Surgeon could probably pull off "second bad vibel" in a set

― brimstead, Thursday, July 31, 2014 1:23 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Totally.

Clipper is a total banger, too.

ed.b, Thursday, 31 July 2014 23:31 (nine years ago) link


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