Various Artists - Headz 2

174MB / 176MB / 166MB / 181MB
320 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip from MW061CD2 & MW062CD


By popular demand, Soundological brings you the complete Mo' Wax Headz 2 compilation from 1996. If you ask me, this time enthusiasm got the better of quality control as 4 discs is waaaay too much map for the territory covered here and this should have been pared down by half at least. When this came out, it played like practically every other voluminous left-field electronic compilation ubiquitous at the time and started sounding the death knell for a label renown for offering something groundbreaking or at least different.

In contrast to the earlier Royaltie$ Overdue (and to a lesser extent the first Headz comp) it's not even much of an historical document since the bulk of the material was kinda dated upon its release. Electronic music was keeping pace with Moore's Law and moving at breakneck speed in the first half of the 90s with sub- and sub-sub-genres popping up then dying out in the wink of an eye. Much of this collection was good but stale when it hit the streets and its price tag left a sour taste in the mouths of some who felt the bang for their buck just wasn't there. Having said that, still quite a few gems to be found in this pile of broken church-window glass and it's fairly safe to say everyone who enjoys electronica (particularly drum 'n' bass and broken beat) will find at least a few tracks they'll enjoy. No scans since I ripped it before I sold it to an acquaintance last fall.


2a CD 1
01 Nightmares On Wax - Nights Interlude
02 The Prunes - Cantona Style
03 Peshay - The Real Thing (90 BPM Version)
04 AIR - Modular (Modular Mix Produced By Solid)
05 The Dust Brothers - Searchin'
06 RPM - Flow
07 DJ Wally - My Bloody Valentine (Nitty Mix)
08 UNKLE - Garage Piano Featuring - KUDO Keyboards - Money Mark
09 DJ Krush - Kemuri ('94 Part II)
10 Sam Sever And The Raiders Of The Lost Art - Do You Understand? Featuring - Pablo Calogero
11 Stereo MC's - What Is Soul? (Instrumental)
12 Urban Tribe - Covert Action (Carl Craig Mix)
13 Lo-Fi Sensibilities - Cabin Fever
14 Midnight Funk Association - Code

2a CD 2
01 DJ Food - Concentric Circle
02 Cool Breeze - 27 Years Of Solitude
03 Stasis - Discotron
04 Scott Free & Cybil Ant - Mango Maracatu
05 Tortoise - The Source Of Uncertainty
06 Massive Attack - Karmacoma (UNKLE Situation Mix - Instrumental)
07 Beastie Boys - Bodhisattva Vow (Instrumental)
08 The Folk Implosion - Simean Groove
09 Olde Scottish - Martian Economics
10 Urban Tribe - Eastward (Forme Remix)
11 Lunar Funk - Spacewalk
12 Forme - New Element
13 DJ Solo - Pressure II
14 Innervisions - Organized Crime


2b CD 1
01 Luminis - Spectral Arc
02 Luke Vibert - Sharp A2
03 Money Mark - World Lesson Part II
04 Twig Bud - Swiss Air
05 UNKLE - The Time Has Come (Portishead Plays UNKLE Mix)
06 Grantby - It's Coming
07 Donut Productions - Wirecutter
08 The Dust Brothers - The Groomsman
09 Skull - Crash
10 Beastie Boys - Flute Loop (Instrumental)
11 DJ Krush - Maze
12 Attica Blues - Sketch
13 Jungle Brothers - Ultimatum Ultra Mix (Jungle Beats/Jungle Bass)
14 Danny Breaks - Science Fu Beats
15 The Force - Future Tense

2b CD2
01 Palm Skin Productions - The Beast (System Remix)
02 Peshay - The Real Thing
03 Dillinja - In The Mood
04 DJ Krust & Roni Size - Tribetoon
05 Source Direct - The Silent Witness
06 As One - The Counterpoint
07 Innerzone Orchestra - Bug In The Bassbin (Street Mix)
08 Black Dog Productions - Object Orient
09 Special Forces - Trilogy
10 Max 404 - Quiddity (Last Visit)
11 Zimbabwe Legit - Doin' Damage In My Native Language (Shadow’s Legitimate Mix)

Black Science Orchestra - Altered States / Walter's Room

Here's some more Beedle for your needle - if not the one attached to the tone arm, the one embedded in the digital junkie's arm at least. See bio info for Ashley Beedle over at the Ballistic Brothers post on Soundological. For his BSO effort, Ashely forsook the talents of buds Rocky & Diesel for a heavier reliance on Uschi Classen and engineer Marc Woolford. The album is named in deference to one of the early pioneers of the extended remix, Walter Gibbons. In all seriousness, if you just glossed over that link and you don't really know who Gibbons was then you better check yourself and click on that link, kiddo. You're in for a treat. Then go to the Disco Museum for a nice in-depth bio on the man you can read while listening to BSO's homage to the glory days of Philly, New York and Jersey disco. Shout out to Julian over at Play Jazz Loud for his psychic request!

AMG Review
by John Bush

Ashley Beedle rewires the original American disco template for a set of updated grooves more reminiscent of Philadelphia International than Strictly Rhythm (even the title is a reference to one of the original disco DJs and remixers, Walter Gibbons). Tracks like "Downtown Science" and "Save Us (The Jam)" find a common ground between house and its '70s forebear, with strings and vibes and keyboards adding to the earthy atmosphere.

Here they are for your summer listening and party pleasure. Enjoy!

The Altered States EP
256 VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip from JBO 22, scans from discogs.com
1994

A1 Philadelphia
A2 Drumadelphia
B1 New Jersey Deep
B2 Varrio (SOS)
+
CD rip of New Jersey Deep @ 256 CBR LAME mp3

Walter's Room
224 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip & scans from Junior Boy's Own JBOCD5
1996

1 Start The Dancer
2 City Of Brotherly Love
3 A Hot Family Day
4 Bless The Darkness
5 Just Holdin' On
6 Hudson River Revisited
7 St. Mark's Square
8 Save Us (The Jam)
9 Downtown Science
10 Rican Opus #9
11 Hudson River High

Ballistic Brothers vs Eccentric Afro's / London Hooligan Soul

Ballistic Brothers vs The Eccentric Afro's Vol 1
boomp3.com
Ballistic Brothers vs The Eccentric Afro's Vol 2
boomp3.com
London Hooligan Soul
boomp3.com
boomp3.com
Extras
boomp3.com

When I first heard The Headhunters' being cut up on "Blacker" back in '94, I immediately fell in love with the Ashley Beedle sound. They were a lot like the early Ninja Tune DJ Toolz and DJ Food albums but had a deep groove, were more straight-forward and not as moody and abstract. In other words, not only great for the crate but perfect summer music for patios, terraces, verandas, porches, yards and stoops which is why Soundological's give ya the real pizzoop with these long out-of-print initial efforts from Beedle's Ballistic Brothers crew.

They really fleshed out their sound on London Hooligan Soul, with Uschi Classen making a larger contribution as well as the addition of Steve Lewis' vocals and Amy Simmons providing some flute as well. Here they stretch out into ska, dub, drum 'n' bass, brazillian and more, with less reliance on samples and more on tunesmithy. In fact, this a perfect distillation of musical mindset held by the Brit kids who had moved through the Northern Soul, Two-Tone Ska, Hip Hop, Acid House, Acid Jazz/Trip Hop and Hardcore/Jungle eras. It may take a couple listens to grow on you but this album is highly regarded as a seminal classic in the UK scene for a good reason.

AMG Biography by Sean Cooper
The Ballistic Brothers are something of a quintessential London post-acid house outfit. Combining the production talents of some of the most popular figures on the progressive house and acid jazz scenes (Ashley Beedle of Black Science Orchestra, Dave Hill of Nuphonic Records, and house-tech duo Rocky and Diesel), the Ballistics pursue a hip-hop/house/jazz/soul crossover that tends to spell "party" no matter where it's played. Releasing most of their initial material on London club staple Junior Boys Own (including their 1994 debut London Hooligan Soul), the group established the Soundboy label in 1996 to release the follow-up, Rude System. The album's semantic-cum-stylistic switch came via Dave Hill's trip to Jamaica just prior to recording the album, an inspiration that also led the group to pursue a remix project (similar to Mad Professor's take on Massive Attack's 1995 album Protection) at Bob Marley's Kingston studio. Group members' individual projects also include X-Press 2, Free Soul, Low Pressing Records, Blacker, Ill Sun Records, Yellow Sox, and the Uschi Classen band.

There's a pretty thorough Beedle bio as well as a cool five-minute video interview with Ashley, Rocky & Diesel reminiscing about their old skool days over at Dancetracks. Follow the links below and you can judge for yourself if Ashley's blowin' smoke out his whazoo when he says of LHS and Rude System: “To this day,I still think those two albums are brilliant.”

Ballistic Brothers vs The Eccentric Afro's Vol 1
58.5 MB
320 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip & scans from Delancey Street Records DSTCD001

1 NYX2
2 Gangstalene
3 Uschi's Groove
4 And It Goes Like This
5 MCF 2870
6 Blacker
7 Valley Of The Afro Temple
8 Grovers Return
Sharebee RS

Ballistic Brothers vs The Eccentric Afro's Vol 2
94.1 MB
320 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip & scans from Delancey Street Records DST005CD

1 Delancey Street...The Theme
2 Unhooked And Lost
3 Save The Children
4 Hustler (You've Been Had)
5 Jam Jah
6 Divine Fact (Blacker 2)
7 Goodvibes...Goodnight
8 Anti-Gun Movement
9 Blacker ('94 EQ)
10 Blacker (Marden Hill Sweet Green Jam Mix)
Sharebee RS

London Hooligan Soul
138 MB
320 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip & scans from Junior Boy's Own JBO CD6, vinyl rip from JBO 31, CD rip from JBO 34 CDS

As a special treat exclusively for readers of Soundological, the version of London Hooligan Soul offered here also includes the B-Sides to the two 12" singles from the LP.

1 Portobello Cafe (Vocals - Steve Lucas)
2 Come On
3 Soho Cab Ride
4 I'll Fly Away (Vocals - Steve Lucas)
5 Jah Jah Call You
6 Mark's Lude
7 I Don't Know
8 Sister Song (Flute - Amy Simmons)
9 A Beautiful Space
10 Steppin' Into Eden (Flute - Amy Simmons)
11 Peckings
12 Uschi's Lament
13 Mystery of Ballistic
14 Step Into Eden (Rollin' Drum & Bass Mix)
15 Come On (Wax Doctor's Simon Templar Remix)
16 Come On (Luke Slater Remix)
Sharebee 1 RS 1
Sharebee 2 RS 2

Extras
78.4 MB
Various
CD rips, vinyl rips and downloads from various sources

Arakatuba - Pelé (Remixed by Ballistic Brothers)
Armand Van Helden - Funk Phenomena (Ballistic Brothers Phenomenal Funk Mix)
Ballistic Brothers - Perfect Day
Ballistic Brothers - Prophecy Reveal (Night Time Is The Right Time Mix)
Ballistic Brothers - Prophecy Reveal
Brand New Heavies - You've Got a Friend (Ballistic Brothers Remix)
D-Note - The Garden Of Earthly Delights (Ballistic Barrio Boom)
United Future Organization - Doopsylalolic (Ballistic Bros Indo Fuse Per Version)
Sharebee RS

If you like this, Soundological also has a Black Science Orchestra post here.