The Black Dog - Spanners

Label: Warp
Year: 1995
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The last release under the group name before the trio splintered, Spanners is a great full-packed CD of modern electronic music, the band drawing on everything from dub to avant-garde experimentalism to create a varied, intoxicating collection. Funk samples are twisted and played with rather than lovingly reused, lyrics eschewed for obscure or unintelligible samples at most, generally straightforward dancefloor tracks still sound slightly hesitant or off. Even from the first song, "Raxmus," it's not too surprising that this appeared on Warp Records; the blend of shuffling yet crisp beat, ambient tones, and other sonic touches and tweaks practically could have been tailormade as a calling card for the label. Certainly, there's a healthy sense of playfulness and obscurity that won't surprise fans of labelmate Aphex Twin, neither will song titles like "Psil-Coysin" and "Nommo." The highlights are many, most often achieving a solid combination of dancefloor friendliness and unexpected sonic trickery. "Chase the Manhattan" may have a cringeworthy pun of a title, but the brisk funk/world percussion beat, soothing synth washes, and distorted electronic bass stabs all come together wonderfully. "Further Harm" shifts a number of times during its length, sometimes playing around with rough beats low in the mix and at other points serving up a variety of keyboard melodies interspersed with brief vocal bits. Other numbers of note include "Pot Noodle," with what sounds like a soft acoustic guitar or a keyboard programmed to sound like one playing a lazy, relaxed melody under the main loop, and the echoing, minimal percussion breaks and squelchy electro-inspired tones of "Frisbee Skip." A series of brief bridge tracks entitled "Bolt" (i.e., "Bolt1," "Bolt2," etc.) crop up throughout Spanners, mostly following their own curious logic as they slide from one track to the next.
-Ned Raggett (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/129305276/The_Black_Dog_-_Spanners.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/129410258/The_Black_Dog_-_Spanners.part2.rar

The Black Dog - Music For Adverts (And Short Films)

Label: Warp
Year: 1996
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

With a cover thumbing its nose at Brian Eno's similarly titled series of albums from the 1970s and song titles ranging in reference from bad Hollywood films to washing powders, it would seem the Black Dog is engaged in a bit of a musical piss-take. Nothing of the sort, actually, as lone Dog Ken Downie's first solo work since the departure of partners Ed Handley and Andy Turner is a serious, often wistful collection of post-rave electronica, incorporating elements of techno, ambient, hip-hop, jungle, and jazz. Although lacking somewhat in complexity, Downie more than makes up for it in focus and emotional content.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/105130149/The_Black_Dog_-_Music_For_Adverts__and_short_films_.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/105133014/The_Black_Dog_-_Music_For_Adverts__and_short_films_.part2.rar

The Black Dog - Temple Of Transparent Balls

Label: GPR
Year: 1993
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Black Dog's proper debut, this time for the GPR label. Includes probably the group's most well-known single track, "Cost II," released on 12-inch simultaneously with the album.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/101127451/The_Black_Dog_-_Temple_Of_Transparent_Balls.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/101129005/The_Black_Dog_-_Temple_Of_Transparent_Balls.part2.rar

The Black Dog - Parallel

Label: GPR
Year: 1995
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

A pre-Bytes collection of odd tracks released after the group had already parted. Some quality material, but without the integrated feel of their other full-length works.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/104563622/The_Black_Dog_-_Parallel.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/104568191/The_Black_Dog_-_Parallel.part2.rar

The Black Dog - Bytes

Label: Warp
Year: 1992
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Black Dog Productions' full-length debut is a sprawling deviation from techno-as-throwaway-dancefloor-fare, weaving surprisingly engaging melodic and harmonic passages around complex rhythmic patterns and diverse, somewhat ambient atmospherics. Although all of the material was previously released in 12" or EP form, it holds up surprisingly well as a unified, coherent whole. With B12's Electro-Soma and Autechre's Incunabula, one of the first and finest blasts in the European "intelligent techno" movement.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/99552367/_1992__Black_Dog_Productions_Bytes.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/99611267/_1992__Black_Dog_Productions_Bytes.part2.rar