The Sabres Of Paradise - Sabresonic

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

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The Sabres' techno-oriented debut album includes crucial singles like "Smokebelch," "Wilmott," and previously unavailable items like "Still Fighting" and "Ano Electro." Also tacks on In the Nursery's beatless remix of "Smokebelch II."
-Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/110224986/The_Sabres_Of_Paradise_-_Sabresonic.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/110225816/The_Sabres_Of_Paradise_-_Sabresonic.part2.rar

Slag Boom Van Loon - Slag Boom Van Loon

Label: Planet µ
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Combining the bed-sit beats of Mu-Ziq and the musical disobedience of Speedy J, for intelligent dance music observers this side project of the two experimentalists must read on paper much like a historical Beatles and Rolling Stones crossover. Hey, if equally mythological team-ups can happen in comic books, why not here? Even when you can point out each musician's superpowers on each track (accurately or not), Slag Boom Van Loon have gone and constructed an hour's worth of meticulously absurd electronic fizz. "Light of India" builds up a wall of sitars and Aziz-like transglobal percussion while other pieces like "Broccoli" sound like a Bjork instrumental forced to subsist on underground fungi for a month. Effortless and interesting, this is a collaboration that shows just how screwed in the head dance musicians can be when they get around to it.
- Dean Carlson (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/110205646/Slag_Boom_Van_Loon_-_Slag_Boom_Van_Loon.rar

Placid Angles - The Cry

Label: Peacefrog
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, Techno, Ambient Dub

Review: (Allmusic.com)

For his first album as Placid Angles, Beltran retained bits of his original Detroit techno inspiration but tempered the whole with a growing stock of ambient (and even new age) textures. Tracks like "Ocean," "Fate" and the beatless "Everything Under the Sun" recall early-'90s Artificial Intelligence maestros like Black Dog and B12 material and shades of original Detroit.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/110170662/Placid_Angles_-_The_Cry.rar

John Beltran - Ten Days Of Blue

Label: Peacefrog
Year: 1996
Styles: Ambient Techno, Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

John Beltran's first album for Peacefrog tweaks the blueprint of Detroit techno with a collection of fragile melodies and synthesizer textures worthy of a Derrick May classic, but with more finely wrought percussion. The melancholy beauty of such tracks as "Collage of Dreams" make Ten Days of Blue an LP supremely chilled and ready to serve.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/109924745/John_Beltran_-_Ten_Days_Of_Blue.rar

Robert Leiner - Visions Of The Past

Label: Apollo
Year: 1994
Styles: Ambient Techno, Ambient

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Arguably the most underrated electronic album of 1994, Visions of the Past alternates between songs of uptempo trance beauty and slower ambient cuts so sinister that the flesh crawls. The best example of the former is "Aqua Viva," a 12-minute dolphin epic with dolphin sounds; of the eerie tracks, "Northern Dark," "Dream or Reality" and the title track are the most paranoid.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/142462003/Robert_Leiner_-_Visions_Of_The_Past.rar

Funkstörung - Additional Productions

Label: K7
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

This eight-track remix compilation features indie-techno heroes Funkstörung reworking tracks by an array of artists from Björk to Wu-Tang Clan to Finitribe to East Flatbush Project to Various Artists and Visit Venus. The duo's trademarked style (trademarked by Autechre, that is) is in full effect and though remix compilations usually aren't a good source for original productions, Additional Productions fills the bill quite nicely.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/109400924/Funkstoerung__-_Additional_Productions.rar

Bandulu - Guidance

Label: Infonet
Year: 1993
Styles: Ambient Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Bandulu's first album is their closest to British listening techno acts like Black Dog and B12. Highlights "Messenger," "Earth 6," and "Pacekeeper" push an aggressive rhythmic tone, though the melodies are quite fragile. One track, "Better Nation," features a Carl Craig remix.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106470629/Bandulu_-_Guidance.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106473858/Bandulu_-_Guidance.part2.rar

David Shea - Satyricon

Label: Sub Rosa
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, Electro-Acoustic

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Like past Shea releases, his 1997 Sub Rosa release Satyricon takes its creative impetus from literature (this time from ancient Roman author Petronius' work of the same name). Unlike past Shea releases, however, there are next to no samples in this nearly hour-long work, Shea instead assembling the remote contributions of nearly two dozen musicians (Sim Cain, Anthony Coleman, Zeena Parkins, Sebastian Steinberg, Fabio Accurso, and Erik Friedlander, among others) into abstract instrumental ambient and electro-acoustic pieces incorporating the sparse tropics of techno and jungle as often as Western classical and Eastern traditional musics. Since Shea mostly limits his source material to discrete performances, Satyricon is a far more minimal affair compared with earlier releases such as Tower of Mirrors or Hsi-Yu Chi, but since those works tended at times toward the over-dense, the imposition is advantageous, resulting in an overall more approachable album.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/109323150/David_Shea_-_Satyricon.rar

David Morley - Tilted

Label: Apollo
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review:

One of the better electronic albums of 1998, David Morleys "Tilted" is notable for it's focus on percussive elements, as well as it's impressive range of sounds. During the course of it's nine tracks, elements of jungle, breakbeat, trip-hop and ambient can be heard, and yet the album still manages to work as a whole. Recommended.

(Please consider supporting David Morley by visiting his website and purchasing some of his music, at http://homepage.mac.com/dlmorley/davidmorley.htm)

Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/109380338/David_Morley_-_Tilted.rar

Legion Of Green Men - Floating In Shallow Water

Label: Swim
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient Techno, Techno

Review:

"Floating In Shallow Water" finds Legion Of Green Men employing a unique mix of jazz, break-beat, trip hop, ambient and worldbeat stylings, with many vocal samples throughout. Jazzy horns or keyboards underscore nearly every track.


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/108005677/Legion_Of_Green_Men_-_Floating_In_Shallow_Water.rar

Two Lone Swordsmen - The Fifth Mission (Return To The Flightpath Estate)

Label: Emissions Audio Output
Year:1996
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Andrew Weatherall's first post-Sabres outing (together with Keith Tenniswood) is a truly beguiling cachet of alternately moody and unexpectedly funky down- and mid-tempo electro. Miles more complex and integrated than such future-funk wibblers as the Clear Records stable, Fifth Mission is often as tear-jerkingly emotional as it is goofball lino material; machine music imbued with more than a bit of humanity. Uniformly excellent.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106759933/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106764797/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part2.rar
Part Three: http://rapidshare.com/files/106768059/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part3.rar

Kreidler - Appearance And The Park

Label: Mute
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, Indie Electronic

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Though in many ways Appearance and the Park is merely a continuation and slight development of earlier Kreidler motifs and approaches, there are also enough tweaks and explorations here and there on the overall approach which help make the album more than just a pleasant listen. The slight but noticeable rhythm time shift on opener "Tuesday" is in many ways a seismic one, in that it gives a sense that Kreidler are willing to play around a bit and see what happens. There's also more of a sense of a scope of inspiration beyond early '70s days in Europe and the Caribbean, with hints of the chilled experimental post-punk of England and Germany seeping into many compositions. Arrangements are often (though not always — check "Necessity Now" for an example otherwise) fuller, and perhaps even more playful than before, though not necessarily in a conventionally pretty sense. "Good Morning City," in particular, suggests some of the quirky Japanese influence hinted at in the liner notes, a bit like if Yellow Magic Orchestra and late-'90s Momus teamed up, though without vocals. The increased use of just-on-the-edge-of-hearing frequencies — quirky synth swirls and tones in particular — suggest that there's even more to the songs than might be apparent on first blush. Keyboards are more actively used, at points not merely as shading or counterpoint melody, but with a more upfront role, as the brief "Plus" and the lovely "Coldness" demonstrate. The tense "Il Sogno di Una Casa" almost suggests Joy Division in ways — not entirely, to be sure, but there's still something there — while "Au-Pair" could almost be a smooth Roxy Music ballad in ways (though the rhythm section is still definitely rooted in steady motorik chug, with some especially fine bass from Stefan Schneider).
- Ned Raggett (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/109048558/Kreidler_-_Appearance_And_The_Park.rar

Monolake - Hongkong

Label: Chain Reaction
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Minimal Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Hongkong compiles Monolake's early releases on Chain Reaction circa 1996-1997. There may not be any purer example of this influential German duo's early sound than the opening track, the mammoth "Cyan." Hongkong ends with two tracks from Monolake's release on the Din label, and also the previously unreleased "Mass Transit Railway." Not nearly as epic or as cinematic as the other tracks, these final three still incorporate strange samples, such as waves crashing on the side of a boat and a montage of Asian voices.
- Jason Birchmeier (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/107284735/Monolake_-_Hongkong.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/107288733/Monolake_-_Hongkong.part2.rar

Kim Cascone - Blue Cube

Label: Noton
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient, IDM, Glitch, Dark Ambient, Minimalism

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Kim Cascone's first release following the dissolution of his popular Heavenly Music Corporation project is also a revisiting of some of the sonic territories of his earlier work as PGR. The album began as a single track to accompany Cascone's contribution to a book of essays about computer music development platform Csound, edited by Richard Boulanger, and expanded into a full-length CD at the behest of Boulanger and others who figured he was onto something. An exploration of themes combining bleeding edge digital technology with rootings about in computer music's prehistory — Cascone used Csound to create acoustical models of early electronic instrument specs — blueCube is a musical expostulation on the "alchemical space" specific to composing with machines, and is some of his most enthralling work to date.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/108250801/Kim_Cascone_-_Blue_Cube.rar

Loop Guru - The Fountains Of Paradise

Label: Cleopatra
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient Techno, Ambient Dub, Ambient

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Through the 1990s, Loop Guru recorded three installments in a series of ambient projects they called Catalogue of Desires. The first two were cassettes sold only at the group's concerts, while the third volume was officially released in 1996. Fountains of Desire plucks portions of the material from the initial two volumes, remixing and reworking it into an updated single-disc collection that in places actually improves on the originals, even if there are still some dull, overly repetitive passages that don't quite achieve the desired hypnotic effect. However, there are some interesting worldbeat-flavored touches sprinkled throughout that help make up for it, at least for more dedicated fans.
- Steve Huey (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/107295799/Loop_Guru_-_The_Fountains_Of_Paradise.rar

Seefeel - Quique (Redux Edition)

Label: Too Pure
Year: 1993 (Redux Edition Released in 2007)
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Dream Pop

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The early days of Seefeel are as bright as they are mysterious. Mark Clifford, Daren Seymour, Justin Fletcher, and Sarah Peacock had unleashed a curious blend of prog rock, ambience, and minimalism — a sort of electronic hybrid that had listeners simultaneously scratching their heads while hitting the repeat button. The song's structures are based on adding and subtracting layers, keeping chord changes at a minimum. Tracks like "Climactic Phase 3" and "Polyfusion" ride glittering collages of keyboard loops, cyclical guitar feedback, and thunking drum machines, occasionally garnished by Peacock's wordless vocal phrasings. "Industrious" is an open sky of majestic ambience and vocals, with clipped drums anchoring the mix on all sides. It makes for a prog rock reminder of early Aphex Twin (a longtime supporter of Clifford), and the mutual influence shows. "Imperial" overlaps several watery layers of sequencing for another (and especially chromatic) soundscape, inducing a sort of trance that has nothing to do with the dancefloor. "Plainsong" grooves along in an up-tempo stratosphere, the album's most likely candidate for any sort of radio play. Here, Peacock's voice is equally plain in delivery — certainly unintelligible — a supporting character that follows the song rather than leads it. "Charlotte's Mouth" is yet another assembly of heavily produced guitar loops, like harmonic droplets of feedback that fall around a dry rhythm track and hums of dubby bass notes. "Through You" trickles down from the rafters with anthemic, ambient chords and a moist cave full of carbonated drum fizz (even a cheap Casio sounds good with Clifford at the mixer), and the aptly titled "Filter Dub" follows the implied style of rhythm, with saturated clouds of ghostly reverb. The album closes with "Signals," a subdued nighttime prayer that glows and shimmers in suspended animation, much like Eno and Lanois' richly explored Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks. The quartet would delve into darker waters later with sparse albums like Succour and CH-VOX, but here they stay closer to their roots as a guitar-driven outfit. In a way, this is Seefeel at their most ornate. They squint by staring into the geometric refractions of light and record the results.
- Glenn Swan (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/108262325/Seefeel_-_Quique__Redux_Edition_.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/108268813/Seefeel_-_Quique__Redux_Edition_.part2.rar
Part Three: http://rapidshare.com/files/108271150/Seefeel_-_Quique__Redux_Edition_.part3.rar

Ultramarine - Every Man And Woman Is A Star

Label: Chameleon
Year: 1992
Styles: Ambient Techno, Ambient House

Review: (Allmusic.com)

A warmly melodic LP of home-listening electronica produced just before the term was coined, Every Man and Woman Is a Star is a delightful concept album with dub-centric rhythms and a straightahead song structure whose only quibble is what sounds like a need for vocals to accompany the tracks. All in all, the LP deserves to be filed alongside the Orb's U.F.Orb, Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Biosphere's Microgravity as an early ambient-techno classic.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/107459083/Ultramarine_-_Every_Man_And_Woman_Is_A_Star.rar

Atom Heart - Aerial Service Area

Label: Fax
Year: 1995
Styles: Ambient Techno, Experimental

Review: (Allmusic.com)

"ETI Encoding," the first track from Victor Sol and Niko Heyduck's collaborative Fax debut, consists of little more than a modulating tone paired eventually (about five minutes into it, in fact) with a similarly modulating harmonic. Somehow, this minimal setup manages to be both engaging and provocative, an uncanny effect which sets the tone for the whole of this remarkable album. Though subsequent tracks feature a wider palette of sounds, Aerial Service Area's beauty lies in its calm economy, similar to the best of Pete Namlook's or Vidna Obmana's solo works. The album also features Atom Heart's Uwe Schmidt on three tracks.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/109155834/Atom_Heart_-_Aerial_Service_Area.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/109280698/Atom_Heart_-_Aerial_Service_Area.part2.rar

Schlammpeitziger - Spacerokkmountainrutschquartier

Label: A-Musik
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Electro-Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Schlammpeitziger's second album offers a significant development in the project's typical vein: smooth electronic pop structures and light beepy grooves that have as much in common with early Cluster as they do with Mouse on Mars. Spacerokkmountainruschquartier, however, has its own quite beautiful sound and atmosphere, trailing through entirely pleasant tracks that have enough movement and composition to seem like much more than simply blissed-out electronica — at the album's best points, Schlammpeitziger truly seems to be at the top of this particular electronic subgenre.
- Nitsuh Abebe (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/120343641/Schlammpeitziger_-_Spacerokkmountainrutschquartier.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/120375992/Schlammpeitziger_-_Spacerokkmountainrutschquartier.part2.rar

Alter Ego - Decoding The Hacker Myth

Label: Harthouse/Eye Q
Year: 1996
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

This German collective works with what could be best described as "listening techno" — electronica designed not for dancing, but for laid-back home listening. This means that each track is organized more like a song, with enough movement to keep things from becoming repetitive; on songs like "Brom," they drop out most of the beats in favor of a sort of organized ambiance. The majority of the album is pleasant in a beepy and bubbly sort of way, and very organic-sounding — a bit like Spring Heel Jack without the breakbeats. Excellent electronica for home use.
- Nitsuh Abebe (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/105113725/Alter_Ego_-_Decoding_The_Hacker_Myth.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/105117559/Alter_Ego_-_Decoding_The_Hacker_Myth.part2.rar

Burger/Ink - Las Vegas

Label: Matador
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Quite distanced from the legion of echo-chamber drumkick records in Mike Ink's catalogue, Las Vegas presents a series of languid trance numbers that reprise the deep-sea dub of his Studio 1 recordings but without the straightahead four-four beats. Obviously, Jörg Burger must deserve much of the credit for Las Vegas, from highlight tracks "Flesh & Bleed," "Milk & Honey" and "Elvism" to the entire Roxy Music connections inherent in just about every song title on the record. If you buy just one Mike Ink record (alternately: if you can find just one Mike Ink record...), it had better be this one.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/108655580/Burger-Ink_Las_Vegas.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/108657707/Burger-Ink_Las_Vegas.part2.rar

Speedy J - Ginger

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

Review: (Allmusic.com)

If any one electronic artist merits comparison to the Beatles, it would have to be Jochem Paap. Because while the Fab Four may far outpace the Dutch techno producer when it comes to global popularity, his catalog of releases easily matches the Beatles in terms of diversity, development, and absolute quality. This first album, released on Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva's Plus 8 record label, finds Paap at roughly the same point on the growth curve that the Beatles were during Rubber Soul. After establishing a fan base with energizing yet simplistic acid 12"s like "Three O'Three" and "Something for Your Mind," Paap reins in some of the manic energy of his early releases, concentrating more closely on the lush and fulfilled sound palette and thoughtful composition that would be his trademark until the rampant experimentalism of his third album, Public Energy No. 1. The chopping intro of "R2 D2" gives way to a light electro beat garnished with tickling synthesizer bleeps and grandiose waves of machine sound that are at once playful and intense. "Basic Design" introduces Paap's signature drum decay, while the bubbling-forward bassline would become a hallmark of early proto-trance recordings. Every sound is magnificently structured, in perfect pitch and timber with every other sound, making Ginger a masterpiece of techno music as audio design.As a vehicle of the times, Ginger singled a furtherance from techno's dancefloor mandate that would be followed by revered groups such as Autechre and the Black Dog. This advancement in techno's sound would advocate the first use of the Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) tag. While every track on Ginger still relies on a 4/4 beat for its composition, none possess a tempo or percussive element hefty enough to meet dancer's needs. Although remixes would turn cuts like "Pepper," with its weightless ambient sweeps, into trancing dancefloor jams, Paap's clear purpose on Ginger was to take his music out of the rave and into the home-listening environment. And not until the decade-later hard techno of Loudboxer would Paap return to his dancefloor roots, similar to the Beatles' return to rock captured in the Let It Be sessions.
- Joshua Glazer (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106290234/Speedy_J_-_Ginger.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106295982/Speedy_J_-_Ginger.part2.rar

As One - Reflections

Label: New Electronica
Year: 1994
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

As on other notable Brit-techno debut LPs from Bytes to Electro-Soma, the first As One album distills the influences of a very Detroit-styled attendance on moody melodies and intricate percussion programming. Tracks like "Mihara" and "Asa Nisi Masa" use an assortment of fragile effects and synth lines to belie the complex, phased rhythm patterns bubbling underneath. The first fruits of Degiorgio's worldbeat bent are visible with song titles including "Dance of the Uighurs" and "Moon Over the Moab."
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/99922421/As_One_-_Reflections.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/99922916/As_One_-_Reflections.part2.rar

Mouse On Mars - Iaora Tahiti

Label: Too Pure
Year: 1995
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Experimental Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

More upbeat and with far greater detail than the debut, Iaora Tahiti proves Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma haven't stood still. The pair's fondness for all things lo-fi follows them here, but just as evident is a depth and punch lacking in their earlier material. Jungle-style programming pops up on the first single, "Bib," as well as elements of dub, funk, industrial, film soundtracks, and musique concrète.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/100154608/Mouse_On_Mars_-_Iaora_Tahiti.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/100156746/Mouse_On_Mars_-_Iaora_Tahiti.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

Various Artists - Artificial Intelligence

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

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The premier listening-techno label for the early '90s, Warp (distributed by TVT) released seminal albums by Polygon Window (aka Aphex Twin), Black Dog, B12, and Autechre. Great tracks from all these artists appear on Artificial Intelligence, along with contributions from Richie Hawtin, Speedy J, and the Orb's Dr. Alex Paterson. The B12 track "Telefone 529" (as Musicology), Black Dog's "Clan" (as I.A.O.) and Autechre's "Crystel" are three of the best here. The cover display, of a robotic humanoid relaxing in a futuristic living room with copies of Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd LPs on the floor, is quite appropriate: Warp virtually pioneered the concept of applying the concepts of '70s ambience to '80s techno. The result is a superb collection of electronic listening music, and it's a great place to start for the newly interested.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/100808061/Various_Artists_-_Artificial_Intelligence.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/100810212/Various_Artists_-_Artificial_Intelligence.part2.rar

Various Artists - Artificial Intelligence II

Label: Warp
Year: 1994
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

With more artists than the previous Artificial Intelligence compilation, this second installment is a bit more sonically experimental, though it suffers from a lack of enjoyable tracks. Besides contributions from AI regulars (Autechre, Speedy J, B12, Polygon Window, the Black Dog's Balil project), tracks by newer names like Beaumont Hannant, Mark Franklin, and Higher Intelligence Agency water down the quality somewhat. The Global Communication project Link contributes what is quite possibly the highlight, the almost progressive house number "Arcadian." While the British edition includes a limited second disc (including an unreleased Richard D. James track named "My Teapot"), the American version of Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2 is single-disc only.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/100929327/Various_Artists_-_Artificial_Intelligence_II.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/100932438/Various_Artists_-_Artificial_Intelligence_II.part2.rar

D'Arcangelo - Shipwreck

Label: EFA
Year: 1999
Styles: IDM, Techno, Electro

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Three years in the making and showing it, Shipwreck is one of the finest releases from the Rephlex label, and is easily the best D'Arcangelo release to date. Moving from poppy, upbeat electro through dark, splintering midtempo experimental tracks and back again, Shipwreck leaves behind the simple drum patterns characterizing past efforts, and introduces an atmospheric depth lacking in their comparatively more two-dimensional Rephlex and Nature EPs. Bold and consistently excellent.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/100172246/D_Arcangelo_-_Shipwreck.rar

Theorem - Ion

Label: M_nus
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient Techno, Minimal Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The debut Theorem full-length is a set of seven lengthy techno dub pieces (collected from previous singles), just slightly more upbeat than material by labelmate Plastikman and conceptual compatriots at Berlin's Chain Reaction label. Like those artists, Ion is a very spatial recording; the timbres are predominantly faraway and echoing. Lawrence begins "Shift" by sampling passing cars while several tracks evoke the brittle sound of trains rumbling. Though the basslines are heavy and repetitive like dub, they move just a bit too slow to conjure up visions of Augustus Pablo or Lee "Scratch" Perry. Most often, Ion evokes a photographic negative of house music: all the melodies removed, with only the four-four beat and some 808 percussion left to fill the void.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/101411350/Theorem_-_Ion.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/101413917/Theorem_-_Ion.part2.rar

Scanner - Sound For Spaces

Label: Sub Rosa
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, Experimental Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Sound for Spaces collects Scanner material from various sources, including radio programs and art installations; also featured is one of his first recordings from the mid-'80s.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/100417373/Scanner_-_Sound_For_Spaces.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/100423813/Scanner_-_Sound_For_Spaces.part2.rar

Node - Node

Label: Deviant
Year: 1995
Styles: Ambient Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Like a lost Tangerine Dream album, only better. Dave Bessell, Gary Stout, Ed Buller, and Flood (who's produced U2 and Nine Inch Nails) cling tightly to their vintage keyboards and make them click, howl, sweep, and pulse with nothing less than exploratory genius. Node delivers all the trimmings of a classic electronic album circa mid-'70s, but lets it ripen for ten extra years. This 1995 release embraces the psychedelic style (right down to the rise-and-fall song structure) with youthful energy, and stays loyal to its roots by using only yesteryear's analog equipment. Furthermore (and to their credit), the album was recorded live, direct to stereo with no overdubs or additional studio trickery. It's as if they played by yesterday's rules in order to win the game (and they do). This is pure, uncut electronic music — a welcome addition for the collectors, and a real discovery for those curious about the genre. Brush the dust off your lava lamp, put on your headphones, and go with the flow. For listeners who know this style of music well, Node is a tough act to follow.
- Glenn Swan (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Removed by request. Look forward to a new release from Node in the coming months.

-N.R.M.

As One - The Art Of Prophecy

Label: Shield
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The last album of metallic Detroit-style techno before Degiorgio departed for a trip through electro-jazz-funk, The Art of Prophecy hardly lacks for dense percussion on tracks like "Relentless," "Theme from Op-Art" and "The Hideout."
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/106307917/As_One_-_The_Art_Of_Prophecy.rar

Freaky Chakra - Blacklight Fantasy

Label: Astralwerks
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Trance

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The overtly technology-enhanced cover of the album, a cross between Tron and Blade Runner, helps set the tone for Freaky Chakra's follow-up release to Lowdown Motivator. If that album captured a blend between active techno energy and nods to a gentler, calmer approach, Blacklight Fantasy is rougher around the edges, more explicitly mechanical, and fiercer. If it had to be summed up, Lowdown had a more "natural" air due to the inclusion of percussion from other cultures, while Blacklight's edge is often artificial, hinting at an electronic body music/industrial background. It's by no means a thorough or total reinvention, but songs are shorter and the overall atmosphere a touch harsher, making a nice contrast without completely disavowing the past. If anything, the results can be subtly beautiful, as can be heard on the clearly Kraftwerk-inspired (and possibly sampled) melodies of "Hyperspace." No guests are credited or have any noticeable roles and, unlike the somewhat start-stop debut, Blacklight runs like an endless mix session, with rhythms unobtrusively varying but never simply stopping cold at a song's end. One could call it a concept album if ideas were stretched a bit but, aside from a general futurism in the titles ("Year 2000," "Living in the Future," "Vector Head"), it's more a question of artistic trappings than anything else. Perhaps the best title of the bunch is "Fascist Funk" — it's not quite the descendant of Heaven 17's "We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing," but its quick, crackling, and static-laden crunch is definitely some space away from funk in its greasy, slow sense. When Bentley ups the spookier atmosphere of things, Blacklight starts to stand out more as its own record, starting with the swirling vocal cries on "What?," followed by the brusque beat and subtle, haunting tones of "Thing."
- Ned Raggett (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/100162017/Freaky_Chakra_-_Blacklight_Fantasy.rar

Aril Brihka - Deeparture In Time

Label: Transmat
Year: 1999
Styles: Ambient Techno, Detroit Techno, Tech-House

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Following the worldwide success of his "Groove la Chord"-featuring Art of Vengeance EP on Fragile Records (a Transmat sublabel), Aril Brikha delivered Deeparture in Time, an entire album's worth of similarly synth-heavy techno with a Rhythim Is Rhythim-like cosmic tone. In addition to the wonderful and heavily spun "Groove la Chord" (which reappears here in its original version as well as in remix form) and similarly patterned tracks like "On and On," the album also includes its share of more ambient tracks like "Embrace," "Otill," and the title track. The blend of these sedate tracks with the livelier dancefloor-orientated fare makes for a perfectly well-balanced listening experience, especially because the tone remains consistent throughout. Deeparture in Time overall is a magnificent debut effort for Brikha and an especially welcome release from Derrick May's semidormant Trasmat label.
- Jason Birchmeier (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/100359279/Aril_Brikha_-_Deeparture_In_Time.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/100360947/Aril_Brikha_-_Deeparture_In_Time.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

Maurizio - Maurizio

Label: M
Year: 1997
Styles: Minimal Techno, Ambient Techno, Experimental

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Concentrating on volumes four through seven in the M Records series, Maurizio collects edits of seven tracks, adding one original 12" mix and one unreleased mix. Each of the nine tracks layer heavy dub effects and synthwork over midtempo house rhythms with plenty of echo and reverb. Besides its necessity for collectors due to the unreleased track, the disc is also the best place to start for those unable or unwilling to use a turntable. Given the fact that the originals are so long and basically unchanging, the edits occasionally work better than the originals, although they aren't the versions that a vinyl-phile like Maurizio necessarily wanted listeners to hear.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/105728654/Maurizio_-_Maurizio.rar

D'Arcangelo - Eksel

Label: Rephlex
Year: 2007
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review:

This album should appeal to fans of more contemporary IDM releases, (Christ, Bola, Toytronic Releases, Etc).
D'Arcangelo's sound has shifted into less glitchy, more ambient fair, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. While past efforts suffered from extremes, being either too complex, or not complex enough, "Eksel" draws a compromise between both worlds, which rewards with repeated listens.


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/103661508/D_Arcangelo_-_Eksel.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/103662617/D_Arcangelo_-_Eksel.part2.rar

System 7 - 777 (UK)

Label: Big Life
Year: 1993
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

The second album released by System 7 (confusingly given the same title as the American issue of their first album) is a seven-track mini-LP that finds Hillage & co. moving closer to straightahead techno and away from the ambient-pop of previous work. Spotlight tracks include the single "7:7 Expansion" and "Sinbad."
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106234027/System_7_-_777__UK_.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106239975/System_7_-_777__UK_.part2.rar

Speedy J - Public Energy No.1

Label: Plus 8/Nova Mute
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Speedy J's 1997 full-length release Public Energy No. 1 takes its name from one of Jochem Paap's lesser-known pseudonyms, under which he's recorded 12-inches for Plus 8 and his own Beam Me Up! label. Although not so dissimilar from the tracks he's produced under that name, Public Energy No. 1 is quite a bit different from Paap's Speedy J material, which until the record's preceding single, "Ni Go Snix," focused mostly on warm, melodic ambient techno with hardly an offending ounce in its lithe, easygoing body. Public Energy, however, is a veritable maelstrom; a mixture of brutalizing machine rhythms, odd, off-putting ambience, and distant, bassy, alien soundscapes. Hailed almost instantly (and, for once, rightfully) as one of the more important records in post-rave techno, Public Energy has all the forceful noncompromise of techno's brief cannon of classics ("Clear," "Strings of Life," "Pneuma," "Scoobs in Columbia," "Four Jazz Funk Classics," etc.), but with an intensified sense of dread and paranoia specific to its time, similar in some respects to the millennium-infused breakbeat experiments of TPower and Tricky (though undeniably techno). The album's daring is also notable given it was Paap's (at least in Europe, which constitutes his largest audience) major-label debut. Essential.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/105150482/Speedy_J_-_Public_energy_no._1.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/105155961/Speedy_J_-_Public_energy_no._1.part2.rar

The Irresistible Force - Global Chillage

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

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Not as groundbreaking and perhaps not as satisfying as Flying High, Morris's follow-up is a nonetheless well-crafted, if occasionally nostalgic second effort. A focus on rhythm and a much more synthetic feel dominate, with a playful, grounded approach taking the place of the debut's more airborne thematics.
- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/102566456/The_Irresistable_Force_-_Global_Chillage.rar

Speedy J - A Shocking Hobby

Label: Novamute
Year: 2000
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM, Techno

Review: (Allmusic.com)

Speedy J followed up the most lauded album of his career with yet another work of excellence, an album that ranges slightly farther afield than the insistent Autechre references recalled by Public Energy No. 1. After a short ambient opener, the ungodly "Borax" comes crashing through with a sound that manages to encompass terms like funky, experimental, and beautiful with equal degrees of excellence. It's easily one of the best productions of Jochem Paap's career, not to mention one of the best in contemporary electronic music. True, a few of the later tracks ("Balk Acid," "Drill," "Vopak") are quite close to the brand of super-computing electro-techno that Autechre pioneered a few years before, but even these productions have an immediacy, an enormity of sound, quite lacking in Autechre. A world away from this music-for-eggheads sound lies what just may have been another influence on A Shocking Hobby — namely, the insanely stupid dance style named big-beat techno. These tracks don't exactly have the can't-miss-'em drum breakdowns and old-school samples of yr average big-beat record, but when Paap places a massive explosion of sound on the first beat of every bar, it's difficult to escape the feeling that these songs are akin to Fatboy Slim on brainfood. Creating intelligent, difficult music that also feeds the attention-span deficit inherent in post-rave music isn't just a good idea, it's the recipe for another excellent album.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106943028/Speedy_J_-_A_Shocking_Hobby.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106943911/Speedy_J_-_A_Shocking_Hobby.part2.rar

System 7 - Phoenix

Label: Echo
Year: 2008
Styles: Ambient Techno, Ambient House

Review:

Inspired by the manga graphic novel series of the same name by Osamu Tezuka, Phoenix is the logical progression from the groups last studio effort, (2006's "Encantado"). Although the general System 7 themes are here (the use of traditional or unusual instruments, and a distinctive world beat vibe), hints of a soundtrack like approach surface at different points in the recording. This is understandable, since Hillage and Giraudy have remarked that the album is based upon certain characters and moments in Tezuka's work.


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106185406/System_7_-_Phoenix.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106190765/System_7_-_Phoenix.part2.rar

Ultramarine - A User's Guide

Label: New Electronica
Year: 1998
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

After a few years of silence, Ultramarine returned with a sound more akin to the understated ambient-techno of Every Man and Woman Is a Star rather than the electro-folk of 1995's Bel Air. It's an intriguing sound, just as wildly varied as you'd expect from these musical eclectics, but A User's Guide holds together much better than previous LPs like Bel Air and United Kingdoms.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/105339992/Ultramarine_-_A_User_s_Guide.rar

Carl Craig - More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art

Label: SSR
Year: 1997
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Review: (Allmusic.com)

After conquering the dancefloor during 1995-1996 with his Paperclip People project, Carl Craig turned back to the electronic mood music of Landcruising and created a work of gorgeous, exquisite electronic listening music. It's a difficult record to digest, but more deserving of Jeff Mills' oft-quoted tag concerning techno being something you've never heard before than any techno record of the '90s. Craig largely wrote his own production playbook, seemingly taking the words written on the cover as a challenge: "Revolutionary art is determined...by how much it revolutionises our thinking and imagination; overturning our preconceptions, bias and prejudice and inspiring us to change ourselves and the world." After a short introduction, "Televised Green Smoke" floats in on a haze, working through the classic blueprint of dance music — the gradual addition of layered, complementary elements — until it reaches a soft peak. "Red Lights" works a slow-grind breakbeat, cycling through the Paperclip People oscillator with strings in the background and an atmosphere reminiscent of The Godfather. "Dreamland" and "Butterfly" are closer to "traditional" Detroit productions, sharp and focused but rather melancholy; the former is a reach-out to the British-Detroit axis (As One, Black Dog, B12), while the latter evokes the classic late-'80s productions of Craig's friend Derrick May (who co-produced a later track, "Frustration"). The Maurizio dub "Dominas" is nocturnal and unhurried, even despite the insistent beat and a female vocal sample repeating the title one word after another. Another classic, "At Les," balances a few gently cascading chords with a rhythm program that keeps pushing the track forward and faster. More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art thumbs its nose at the growing ranks of intelligent techno blowhards, and arguably bests anything the IDM crowd mustered before or after it.
- John Bush (Allmusic Guide)


Link:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/103560935/Carl_Craig_-_More_Songs_About_Food_and_Revolutionary_Art_vbr.part1.rar
Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/103564314/Carl_Craig_-_More_Songs_About_Food_and_Revolutionary_Art_vbr.part2.rar