Mystery Train

Christos Thiveos, Giorgos Andreou - Mistirio Treno @320

This is one of the best albums to come out of the new wave of modern Greek music the last 10 years in my opinion. Such lyric, deep and mature record I did not hear for many years.
It is highly recommended to people with an exotic ear and a sense of quality (understanding of the lyrics would help but it is not required..).
It is my gift to all my friends here....and I urge you to get this to expand your horizons.....
Happy listening!
:)
P.s. Apologies for the 2 part RS links but due to my sharing a wifi free net connection it was not possible to up it in one go...
[quote]
There is a lack of conscience’ Composer Giorgos Andreou talks about his latest project and the Greek music industry
Photo: ‘Today’s male singer, unfortunately, is more along the lines of [Tolis] Voskopoulos than [Grigoris] Bithikotsis... it’s the establishment of nouveau-riche ways expressed through the softened man who cries and complains about being abandoned by the erotic subject of his desire,’ says Andreou, who adds that today’s singers are trapped in career-related stereotypes.By Iota Sykka - Kathimerini
A songwriter, lyricist and composer, Giorgos Andreou ranks as an artist who has added fresh elements to Greek music, be it laiko (popular Greek), ethnic, electric sound or loops. A trained musician, Andreou spent his youth playing with rock bands and later wrote some of the country’s biggest hits of the past 15 years, sung mostly by numerous female singers - Eleni Vitali, Tania Tsanaklidou and Eleni Tsaligopoulou, to name but a few. For his latest batch of material, released on a new album titled “Mystirio Treno” (Mystery Train), Andreou has entrusted a male vocalist, Christos Thivaios, with his work. Andreou wrote all the music and most of the lyrics. Words for three songs were provided by Odysseas Ioannou, Poly Kyriakou and Thivaios, the vocalist. In another new project, touring this summer, Andreou wrote the music for the staging of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Love of Don Perlimplin and Belissa in his Garden,” directed by Theodoris Gonis for the Agrinion Municipal Theater. Andreou is also preparing new music to be performed in Patras this October as part of the city’s yearlong European Cultural Capital agenda. “I don’t make albums often,” Andreou told Kathimerini in an interview. “Most of my albums feature female vocalists. I consider them to be more significant than male singers. It’s that two-natured aspect concerning mother and lover, plus the bodily element that produces unrivaled brightness and power. Because I’d been writing mainly for women, material with a male mentality had built up within me. At some point, this manly persona began to seek expression. [Christos] Thivaios is a friend, a fiery singer and gifted songwriter who sung my songs for men.”
How do you judge a singer?
From how they are able to function physically with demanding material. For me there are two types of singers, those that are like jukeboxes - you insert the coins and listen to the music playing through the speakers - and those that become the music themselves.
Is there a shortage of worthy male singers?
Good singers exist, but there is a lack of conscience. It explains why I opted for Thivaios. Christos [Thivaios], [Lavrentis] Maheritsas, [Panos] Katsimichas and [Nikos] Portokaloglou are people with education and depth. When you provide them with a song, they know where it’s coming from; they feel it; they don’t simply execute it. Today’s singers are trapped in career-related stereotypes. They ask you to take along 19 songs to choose one they approve of. I struggle for a good song. Today’s male singer, unfortunately, is more along the lines of [Tolis] Voskopoulos than [Grigoris] Bithikotsis... it’s the establishment of nouveau-riche ways expressed through the softened man who cries and complains about being abandoned by the erotic subject of his desire.
It’s clear that there’s a problem in the music industry. Are there no artists able to break away, or conditions or fans that can inspire this?
The music industry has a problem as a whole. The CD format is dying. In the future, we’ll be using one song but won’t be buying the entire product as we do now. The philosophy is changing. There’s something unprecedented happening in Greece now - the sacrilege and vulgarization of an artistic past through the offerings of premium CDs. To prove that they are posting profits, employees at multinationals, disinterested in anything deeper, have sold entire catalogs and the history of Greek music at outrageously low prices. On the other hand, we’ve got an unbelievable situation of integration in television and the production side. TV channels that own record companies and TV game shows that have ties with record companies lead to contracts through which artists are manufactured. This Third World-type management has destroyed the health of the music industry. The biggest problem being faced, however, is that truly talented artists are unable to surface. Who’s going to publish their work? Who’s going to encourage them? Nobody. We have a problem, then, as reality shows are a one-way street in musical expression.
Is this having an affect on the club circuit?
Like the music industry, the club circuit is also dying. A restructuring of the live-music circuit is needed. No matter how good-natured you are, the current style of clubs cannot be maintained. People are seeking unplugged performances and small venues because they want to rediscover the mechanics behind music. Special effects and monstrous sound systems are detrimental to music.
All this is creating panic for singers, who, in their effort to regain the fans they’ve lost, often make fools of themselves.
This is an unpleasant truth. Talented singers who have dominated the Greek scene over the past 30 years are rarely self-critical. With the exception of [Haris] Alexiou and [Tania] Tsanaklidou, who treats herself harshly, self-criticism, renewal and inspiration are lacking. The restlessness is all about power roles. Singers have turned into populist politicians. New faces are needed.
Do the songwriters share this same anxiety for a share of the pie?
They’re less responsible for this musical mess than others. The good songs we’ve had over the past decade were written by Portocaloglou, Katsimichas, Maheritsas, [Socrates] Malamas, [Pantelis] Thalassinos, [Fivos] Delivorrias and [Stamos] Semsis.
They’ve insisted on their own musical ideas without trying out the effectiveness of their work beyond their personal worlds...[/quote]
Biography[quote]Christos Thiveos
Christos Thiveos read philosophy at the University of Bologna, under Umberto Eco. He worked as a musician in Italian and also Jewish folk groups, where he performed songs of the Ashkenazim and Sephardim. In 1994, with Alekos Vasilatos and Tasos Lolis, he created the group Synithis Ypopti (Usual Suspects), as their songwriter and lead inger. Their first album, Meres adespotes (Stray days) was released in 1996 on the Lyra label. In winter 1997-98 he appeared on stage at the Iera Odos club with Giorgos Dalaras, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Giorgos Andreou, and Marios Frangoulis. The result was a CD single called Zontani Ichografisi apo tin Iera Odo (Live from Iera Odos), released in spring 1998. In the same year he sang poems for Vasilis Dimitriou’s album O Megalos Thymos (The Big Rage) from the TV show of the same name. He also sang for the album Ston Vangeli me agapi (To Vangelis with Love), a tribute to Vangelis Germanos, singing Se Thelo (Want you).
In April 2000 Synithis Ypopti released their second album, Ime afto pou kinygao (It’s me I’m looking for). Emilia Ottaviano, member of the Grecophone southern Italian group Ghetonia sang two of the songs. This was when Thiveos was writing the music and three songs for Villy Sotiropoulou’s play Gynaika loser (Woman loser), directed by Giannis Mortzos. Thiveos was a guest artist for Apurimac’s album Hasta Siempre, dedicated to Che Guevara. The profits were donated to Mιdecins sans Frontiθres.
In November 2000 he was soloist in the first part of a Thanos Mikroutsikos concert at the Athens Megaron (the soloist in the second part was Haris Alexiou).
DiscographyGuest appearances: Three songs in the album Occasional Dream Duet with Eleftheria Arvanitaki for the Active Member album kramahoperata II Duet with Eleftheria Arvanitaki for her album Ekpompi (Broadcast).
From January to December 2002 he was on tour in Greece and abroad with Thanos Mikroutsikos. The result was the album O Amlet tis Selinis (Prince Hamlet of the Moon), music by Thanos Mikroutsikos, lyrics by Manos Eleftheriou, Odysseas Ioannou, Giorgos Kakoulidis, Kostas Lachas, Tzeni Mastoraki, and Kostas Tripolitis.
His new album Mono nero sti riza (Just some water for the roots) was released in December 2002, with his own songs and arrangements with Emilia Ottaviano and Vasilis Paiteris joining him
[/quote]

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Part2
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Mishaps Happening

A major talent and if you know whats happening you should already have this in your collection, but if not now is the time to change that!

YOU MUST GET THIS!!!!!

The hottest motherf*%ker out there”
XLR8R

“Mishaps is definitely happening, and will make you a soul believer.”
EARPLUG

”Instantly accessible yet irresistible... life-affirming”
STRAIGHT NO CHASER

”What impresses is the album's organic feel that evokes the energy of a live band much more than a solo producer”
BPM

”Besides being by far the most consistent Quantic solo venture yet, switching easily from Afrobeat to jazzy soul structures, the adventurously funky set also gets a vocal boost from frequent collaborator Alice Russell and the legendary Spanky Wilson.”
NOW

#1 album of the week
KCRW (Week of May 24, 2004)

Ubiquity will release the 3rd solo Quantic LP in the USA, Canada, Spain, and South Africa. It's a simultaneous release with the UK based Tru Thoughts label taking care of the rest of the world. Building on the success and popularity of his first 2 albums "Mishaps Happening" sees Will Holland aka Quantic take it to the next level with the aid of guests like U.S. funk legend Spanky Wilson and Quantic right-hand woman Alice Russell. From the explosive Brazil tinged title track to the enchanting soul of "Sound of Everything" and the Afrobeat flavored "Furthest Moment" album #3 continues to join the musical dots, Quantic style. Jazz, funk and Afrobeat blend with tight breaks and distinctive production that happily nods to the past but sounds like the future.

At only 23 years old, Holland has established himself as one of the most talented and prolific artists in the world of underground dance music. Recording under various guises he first found acclaim as Quantic, fusing jazz sensibility with dance floor orientated grooves and intelligent breaks. Exploring the worlds of jazz and deep funk his second project, the Quantic Soul Orchestra, is a group of highly talented players that pays homage to the funk explosion of the early seventies that has always been an inspiration to Holland.

The 1st Quantic album "The 5th Exotic" was released in summer 2001 and was hyped by some of the biggest DJs worldwide: Richard Dorfmiester, Mr. Scruff, and LTJ Bukem rated it very highly and tunes like "Common Knowledge" and "Life in the Rain" blazed across dance floors all over Europe. He built on this acclaim with the release of "Apricot Morning" less than a year later, dispelling any talk of the difficult 2nd album. Collaborating with the incredible Alice Russell, MC EQ, and Bristol's freshest hip hop crew Aspects. The album was a perfect snapshot of everything that was happening at the jazz end of the underground in 2002 - Gilles Peterson ranked it amongst his albums of the year.

Holland has been invited all over the world to deejay, encompassing gigs throughout the USA, Canada, Japan, Europe and Scandinavia amongst many other destinations. His music has been featured on countless compilations and appeared in TV soundtracks. He has remixed Bonobo, our own Greyboy, plus Nitin Sawhney, and Roy Hargrove amongst others and collaborated on a joint release smash single with Mr. Scruff.
[/quote]

[quote]
Quantic
Mishaps Happening
[Ubiquity; 2004]
Rating: 6.9

I've been waiting forever to write this sentence: Fela Kuti is everywhere these days. Fela's complex history, unwavering politics, and indelible musical legacy have created the kind of iconic anchor necessary to hold down an increasingly flimsy global culture. Thank Universal for beginning the flood of reissues in 2000: now Fela's dark continental grind and scathing socialist message are reaching more Western listeners than ever before. The dense, syncopated rhythms and low-end swell of Afrobeat currently tints almost the entire urban dance music palette, from revivalists like Antibalas to Common's hip-hop highlife to Afro-dub rockers Tussle.

Obviously, electronic music's extended instrumental breaks are especially suited to the Afrobeat makeover; witness Masters at Work's sweaty, traditionally propulsive "MAW Expensive (A Tribute to Fela)" or Bugz in the Attic's buzzing broken-beat remix of "Zombie" from 2002's Red Hot + Riot compilation. Ubiquity is perhaps a little late to the party, showing up with Bristol's Will Holland, under the moniker Quantic, doing his take on four-on-the-floor Afrobeat and breezy Braziltronica. I've come to expect consistently fresh sounds from Ubiquity, and Mishaps Happening delivers a fair dose of their usual smoothed-out California breaks/sunrise house cocktail. But when Holland dips his ladle into the Afrobeat bucket, he comes up lacking; watery production and hollow beats fall short of a potentially thunderous dance floor deluge.

Maybe it's a state of mind thing, because with certain clues, a listener expects certain results. For instance, the shuffling rhythm, twangy guitar, and creaking sax that open the album have me anticipating an eventual knockout blow, which somehow never arrives. The polyrhythmic chatter, organ-driven swagger, and crisp vocals on "Use What You Got" seem to prelude some kind of heavy climax, but again, we're left wanting. If he were to steer clear of these Afrobeat signposts, Holland might have a much more effective album that perhaps relies on standard touchstones but actually delivers.

That's what we get at the album's midsection, which stands out with some interesting arrangements and well-crafted songs. The funky "Trees and Seas" carries a blunted Thievery Corporation sparkle through another late night, while "Angels and Albatrosses", with its moody, distinctly downtempo sway, bobs along on waves of flute, marimba, and baritone, eventually leading to a satisfyingly serene resolution. "Prelude to Happening" combines a subtle, snaking bassline, rolling drums, somber strings, and eerie vocals into a sizzling midtempo reverie; Holland's production and songwriting skills shine through in this pretty, elegiac dirge.

Holland's first two solo Quantic LPs received accolades from all the right tastemakers (Gilles Peterson, Richard Dorfmeister), and despite Mishaps' missteps, you can hear why. Philly soul vocalist Spanky Wilson gives a true school feel to "Don't Joke with a Hungry Man" and "When You're Through", while "Perception" delivers just the right amount forward-pushing velocity without veering into drum-n-bass histrionics. The closing tune, "So Long", is perhaps the stylistic bridge that Holland strives for throughout the album. I'm fairly certain that's banjo I'm hearing behind staccato strings, right after the dubbed-out breakdown and Alice Russell's silky crooning. It's a sharply distinctive number that starts with a traditional break and lives up to its promise seven hypnotic minutes later. There's no sign of Afrobeat pretense here-- except for perhaps in its ardent grasp at funky forms-- and the song works beautifully.

-Jonathan Zwickel, May 11th, 2004

QUANTIC
Mishaps Happening
(Tru Thoughts/Ubiquity)
US release date: 8 June 2004
UK release date: 7 June 2004
by Stefan Braidwood

Welcome back, Mr. Holland. We've missed you.

For those of you not up on your Wachowski mythology, let me make things a tad more blatant: in the world of British funk and soul, the buzz surrounding Will "Quantic" Holland has grown to anagrammatic proportions over the last few years. Here is a guy who plays almost anything he can get his hands on with an infectious right-on simplicity, yet who cannot really read or write music and who recorded and produced his solo albums in his bedroom. Who, if memory serves, got his sister to play her flute contribution to his second LP over her mobile phone (and made it sound great.) Who melded jazz, trip-hop, and funk beautifully on his mesmeric debut, The 5th Exotic, that contained the telepathic perfection of "Life in the Rain", and whose follow-up Apricot Morning ventured in a partying rainbow through housey deep funk, African chants, stoned saxophone ripples, and a modern dancefloor take on '50s percussion vibes. Who spearheads live-recording funk colossi Quantic Soul Orchestra and is half of folk-pop-funk-soul brothers the Limp Twins, and who will be helming a second outing by both of them later this year. Who put out the lovely joint single, "Sweetsmoke", with notorious/beloved piemeister mr scruff (big up Stockport!). Who, in his remix of Roy Hargrove's "Forget Regret", is responsible for one of my Favourite Things Ever, and consequently the object of some adulation on my part. Who is 23, and therefore obviously in need of a good whipping for being nauseatingly precocious.

Yes, I know Beyonce is also only 23, and I'll get round to spanking her at the first opportunity. Right now, though, I'm going to contribute to Holland's prescribed (critical) persecution myself, because Mishaps Happening is clearly not up to scratch, if by no means a failure of Matrix: Revolutions proportions. In an admittedly foreseeable turn of events, Holland has headed back into '60s/'70s and world music vibes, awash with African and Latin American colours, voices and relaxed yet righteous attitude. Bar the few inevitable surprises, this means that overall the disc has a much more seamless, natural feel to it than the bright and chunky punch of its predecessors. Fear not; drums, bass, and percussion are still fresh and fun, but they are no longer as emphasised and tend to blend in organically rather than the feet-hijacking, air-bass-riff inducing direct chirpiness of yore. The drums on the seven-minute titular opener don't really kick in until around the four-minute mark, and while the track is pleasant at worst, it outlines the album's general dilemmas rather well: a bit too long if not quite sprawling, enjoyable rather than joyously attention-grabbing, slightly monotonous in parts.

For the first time, there is the worrying sensation that, whilst Holland always plays, produces and collages with effortless talent and taste, he's coming up a little short of inspired, memorable directions for his honed ingredients. Tracks like "Trees and Seas" or "Angels and Albatrosses" aren't bad, they're just as unarresting as their titles. Bland music from Quantic? Ouch.

Much like his hip-hop collaboration with Bristol's Aspects on Apricot Morning, the track featuring an MC named Trinidad (three guesses as to his port of origin) in French is OK but not more. The violins on "Prelude to Happening" glide and mesh soothingly, yet neither pierce nor enrapture. Even gloriously named funk legend Spanky Wilson and Brit soul diva Alice Russell fail to set their four fine appearances on fire -- the notable exception being the crisp reggae funk farewell of closer "So Long". Only the hypnotic afro-funk wallow of "Furthest Moment" and the wind-up military band firepower of his first drum 'n' bass tune, "Perception", emerge glossy and bouncing. Oh, and the cover is ugly, strange and vaguely maritime. Why?

This remains a good collection of grooves to let marinate on a summer evening, but the spark and intensity of earlier are mostly absent. Mr. Holland, you are only human. So spread yourself less thinly in the future, and in the words of Ms Jones, take off your cool. We want more of those catchy hooks, those dynamite drum breaks, that finger-snapping bass and that sense of unashamed fun. Preferably soon enough to replace "Forget Regret" before my neighbours finally lose their cool and kill me for having it on endless repeat. Please.
[/quote]

Artist : Quantic
Album : Mishaps Happening
Year : 2004
Quality : CBR, 192kbps, stereo

Tracklisting
------------
01 (7:31) Mishaps Happening
02 (5:13) Use What You Got
03 (4:02) Sound of Everything
04 (4:33) En Focus
05 (4:52) Trees And Seas
06 (5:13) Angels And Albatrosses
07 (5:34) Furthest Moment
08 (5:17) Don't Joke With A Hungry Man
09 (6:24) Prelude To Happening
10 (4:37) When You're Through
11 (4:44) Perception
12 (7:23) So Long

Playing Time : 65:23
Total Size : 89.9 MB

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Flowermouth

Reissue of 1994 debut for the One Little Indian label by this avant-garde alternative dance duo comprised of Tim Bowness & Steven Wilson. Features stunning guest appearances from Ian Carr, Mel Collins, Robert Fripp, Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri.

...No-Man are for those of far more delicate dispositions. The follow-up to the dream pop minimalism of 'Loveblows And Lovecries', 'Flowermouth' continues the drift amidst butterflies and fluffy clouds. Mixing breathy vocals, tribal rhythms, orchestral manoeuvrings and dainty dance beats - listen no further than 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap' - and prepare for enchantment.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)

"DAILY MAIL"

With Robert Fripp and members of long-disbanded Japan for company, this group sets out its stand among the art-school fraternity. The boffins are thankfully kept at bay as they float off seductively into a dreamy pop world. (***)

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)


"HALIFAX COURIER"

No-Man have left behind the infectious English pop of the Pet Shop Boys / New Order variety to produce an album which has more dreamy and moody characteristics. 'Flowermouth' impressively combines the talents of Robert Fripp, Lisa Gerrard, jazz veterans Ian Carr and Mel Collins and ex-Japan member Steve Jansen.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)


"MELODY MAKER"

No-Man. No way, no day. Or so we thought last year when they were little more than an innocuous title above the two frighteningly convincing transvestites boasted on their T-shirts. Yeah, so shame on us; we all let the band fester away in obscurity. All, that is except Messrs Selzer and Roberts, to whom, humble apologies. No, fuck it. No-Man were no one then; but ermm, no more. 'Flowermouth', with all its sophisticated romantic fumblings, makes for evocative listening: grown-up angsty pop too melancholic to be mainstream, too sublimely well-observed to be ignored.

Imagine Trent Reznor fronting The Beloved doing Erasure covers and you're just about there. Except that Trent is less ragged, less tortured, Erasure less camp and The Beloved way more elegant. An unlikely menage a trois, both soothing and saddening.

The high points are the second and fourth tracks, both of which swim with the steamy self-assurance of the best movie soundtracks, doused in foxy violins and breathy voice, bearing all the ambience of a spontaneous but long-awaited seduction. Reflective moodiness pervades 'You Grow More Beautiful', finding No-Man mourning lost lurve with all its weighty emotional baggage ("You grow more beautiful / As I fade away"), while 'Soft Shoulders' harbours the kind of epic, sweeping chorus worthy of John Barry. The 'Ben Hur of this year's love songs.

No-Man don't subscribe to the insincerity of smiley pop, the shallow wallowing in dead-end romantic liaisons, but rather wear their rejections like a badly-stained tie. Beauty and entrapment, love and loss.

We're there, dudes.

HOLLY BARRINGER

"MOJO"

Once touted as the new Smiths, this duo now sound like a collaboration between The Beloved (ambient instrumentation) and James (vocals rippling with emotional sincerity). With touches of tastefully-muted trumpet, 'Flowermouth' makes for atmospheric listening. Themes of loss and yearning permeate the lyrics, particularly effective in the arresting 'You Grow More Beautiful'. One to listen to while getting over a doomed relationship this summer.

PR

"VOX"

Rich in atmosphere but short on distinctive melody, No-Man's previous album, 'Loveblows & Lovecries', was left daydreaming in obscurity by an indifferent public. This new collection of textured dance songs and introspective ballads also pulses at a wistful pace, asking little from listeners other than a shared taste for artists such as Japan, Bill Nelson and John Foxx.

Nevertheless, anyone ready to fall back into this nostalgic groove will happily idle away the nine-minute opener, 'Angel Get Caught In The Beauty Trap' and the ballad, 'Watching Over Me', which affirm the album's opulent but sad end-of-summer tone, 'Soft Shoulders' is the pick of the tunes, with its lush chord changes, 'Teardrop Fall' offers some blissful pop, while violinist Lisa Germano, Robert Fripp and Japan's old rhythm section, Jansen / Barbieri, ensure the instrumentation is always evocative.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)


"BRUM BEAT"

The Blue Nile meets Talk Talk's probably the easiest way to pigeonhole the second album from the moody duo whose well groomed, multi-textured but wistfully languid dance grooves features contributions from the likes of Robert Fripp, Japan's rhythm axis Barbieri and Jansen, and jazz men Ian Carr and Mel Collins. It never actually works up a sweat, but the sultry introspective English ennui pop of 'Teardrop Fall', 'Watching Over Me', 'Soft Shoulders', and the summery rain haze of the lengthy 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap', certainly manage a warm glow. (***)

MIKE DAVIES


"NORFOLK PREVIEW"

No-Man are the perfect summer listening experience, subtle touches of atmospheric music brought to you by Tim Bowness and Steve Wilson, with added musical collaborations from Robert Fripp, Lisa Gerrard, Steve Jansen and jazz veterans Ian Carr and Mel Collins. Impressed? 'Flowermouth' is a mix of the romantic and the melodramatic, their dance numbers cover the same ground as New Order or The Pet Shop Boys, while their ballads mix David Sylvian, Momus and Brian Eno. 'Angel Get Caught In The Beauty Trap' captures the essence of the band with "I fall in love, only to cry in my sleep", a perfect companion for a summer of broken dreams.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)


"ATTITUDE"

Sophisticated pop with a disco beat, No-Man's second album sounds like a collaboration between Pet Shop Boys and Prefab Sprout. The lush ballads succeed in staying just this side of mawkish (though it is touch-and-go at times) but it's the self-assured quirkiness of the poppier tunes, such as 'Teardrop Fall' and 'Simple', that stand out here. As with Prefab Sprout, the songs are set in luxurious surroundings which suggest that No-Man are bigger than they are. Justice we're sure will prevail.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)

"BILLBOARD"

U.K.: A new album by London duo No-Man enhances the act's reputation for being in the forefront of experimental pop.'Flowermouth', released here on One Little Indian, is an esoteric collage that spreads across several musical divides, and while it's not scheduled for American release, it should appeal to alternative, club, and even Top 40 audiences. Formed in 1990, No-Man consists of instrumentalist and producer Steven Wilson and vocalist Tim Bowness, but 'Flowermouth' features guest appearances by Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri, formerly of 1980s glam godfathers Japan, as well as contributions from such other alternative icons as Robert Fripp and Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. Wilson and Bowness recently won acclaim in America for the belated release of the No-Man single 'Taking It Like A Man' (550 Music / Epic / One Little Indian) and album 'Loveblows & Lovecries' which appeared here last summer. An elegant dreaminess, veering toward the in-vogue ambient sound pervades much of the new set. 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap' simmers gently for ten minutes with a flavourful mix that has Bowness' meditative vocals and Wilson's keyboards as the main ingredients, with added body from Fripp's patented "frippertronics" and final seasoning from trumpet, violin and saxophone. But the charismatic 'You Grow More Beautiful' proves that the duo can do just as well without a guest list.

PAUL SEXTON


"THE WIRE"

Mapping out musical terrains is becoming a deliciously difficult exercise, so why do it? Well, because frontiers - those semi-permeable membranes between states - can describe much about alignments, as, indeed, there is much to say about No-Man. No-Man are vocalist Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson, and just as their name implies, they make music that floats towards a place where core identities dissolve.

The No-territory of Wilson and Bowness' third album has recognisable frontier posts. There are traces of Bowie, vintage Eno, a bit of Roxy. 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap' and 'You Grow More Beautiful' use lo-tech sequencer patterns reminiscent of Larry Heard; the album's airy, mannered arrangements nod towards The Beloved; guest guitarist Robert Fripp forays into terra nullia, and in doing so, conjures up memories that stretch past 'No Pussyfooting' and back to his King Crimson days.

It's tempting to describe 'Flowermouth' as the ultimate summer album. There is a glorious spring water clarity about Bowness' vocals, while Ben Coleman, the duo's violinist and unofficial third man, adds a quality of nostalgia and half-grasped memories. That 'Flowermouth' contains nine love songs addressed to no one only increases its odd familiarity.

In a larger sense, No-Man represent an intelligent stab at the future, an attempt to enrich current Ambient work by making classic little pop songs. That is what 'Teardrop Fall' and 'Shell Of A Fighter' are, the one surging with a syncopated 'Scary Monsters' dance beat, the other a gleaming Fripp-fuelled flashback.

LOUISE GRAY


"PROGRESS"

As any truly progressive musician knows, the potential in the cross-relating of different musical forms offers considerable delights and, in many cases, the only way out of sonic stagnancy. No-Man's singer Tim Bowness has always been an advocate of such barrier-crossing, stating at the time of the band's arrival in 1991; "The problem is that rock is not enriching itself...you only get innovation when there's a dialogue between the arts and when barriers break down." In their own small way, No-Man are doing their bit of chipping away at those walls.

The musical explorations of these Hemel Hempstead-based art-rockers have always been intriguing. Mixing the accessibility of synth-pop bands like Japan with the vision and sonic vocabulary of more progressive forms, No-Man's music has an aching romanticism coupled with an edgy funk drive. On their two previous albums, 'Lovesighs' and 'Loveblows & Lovecries', they've sought to intellectualise the dance-beat and relate it to the pulse of a human experience broader than a simple good-time imperative, while consolidating their grasp of elemental pop and broadening their impressionistic vocabulary. Now the band - slimmed down to a duo of Bowness and multi-instrumentalist / producer Steven Wilson and drawing on various guest musicians - are expanding their talents in quest of the perfect album.

'Flowermouth' is a self-confessed re-evaluation of the band's scope, re-assimilating original influences such as Miles Davis, Talk Talk, gorgeous Scottish moodists The Blue Nile, and Fripp & Eno - Fripp himself is the most prominent guest musician on the record, supplying washes of Frippertronics and a bewildering variety of guitar sounds. Although the No-Man style remains intact (beat-driven, impressionistic, Bowness' urgent breathy croon overlaying gliding synths and violin) this is a far more ambitious and demanding album than its forebears. No-Man have pulled out the stops on the experimental textures. Not content with that, they've also turned up the heat on the dance content. As a result, 'Flowermouth' simmers with the challenge of contradiction. The glorious ten-minute opener 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap' illustrates their love for moody prog-pop, minimalist composers and the impressionistic. It swells up like an unwinding dream - gentle and urgent arpeggios, lush violin (courtesy of part-time member Ben Coleman) and understated piano underscore Bowness' tentative stepping into dusty cityscapes and bittersweet memories, caressed by a lonely trumpet and Fripp's scalding but romantic guitar solo wound around with the lyrical soprano sax of ex-King Crimson reedsman Mel Collins. In direct contrast, 'You Grow More Beautiful' is conga-laden mood disco with a dark edge and an unexpectedly beautiful melodic curve in the chorus and a wistful pay-off line - "you grow more beautiful, as I fade away..."

This is a peculiarly desolate album - most of the songs deal with stagnation, from a lover's self-disgust in the dry minimalism of 'Shell Of A Fighter' or the wistful organ-cushioned bitterness of 'Things Change' to the gentle suffocation of the lovely 'Animal Ghost' which drifts along on Collins' free-floating flute. Even 'Teardrop Fall', the most conventional track on offer, manages to ironically match a lyric of utter futility and despair to a upbeat synth-pop tune. Throughout the album No-Man stubbornly continue to achieve links between fat funk and detailed cinematic introspection: tracks such as 'Teardrop Fall' or 'Soft Shoulders' emphasise the band's pop sense with their cool jauntiness and massive desolate choruses, while 'Simple' represents the band as unnerving sound-painters, an epic of stuttering tension razored across by Fripp's skysaw guitar and shivered by the wailing vocals of Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard and the concluding spinetingling Frippertronics.

No-Man manage to simultaneously exhibit an eclectic textural awareness that leaves most pop bands in the dust, plus a melodic pop sense that shows up the snobbery of more "artistic" acts. Despite this, one sometimes feels that Bowness and Wilson possess a febrile intelligence not completely given its head here. The band's attempts to stretch songwriting within the tyranny of the dance-beat are in general successful (Sylvian meets Mahler with a side order of Soul II Soul), but sometimes you wish that once in a while No-Man would get their heads out of the clouds and scrape some dirt, turn off the drumboxes and explore some more of the dynamics itching to expand out of their music. 'Flowermouth' is almost their 'Spirit Of Eden', but not quite - despite the delicate subtleties that keep me coming back to this album, I have to conclude that it's a little too mannered to be the masterpiece that I'm sure they will produce. But this is minor carping--by almost any standards, 'Flowermouth' is an excellent album . Anyone who has any interest in boundary-crossing, and anyone who wants to see the possibilities in the marriage of the ancient and the ultra-modern in intriguing music will put this record at the top of their shopping list.

DANN CHINN


"SUN ZOOM SPARK"

Shades of The The abound. The strong and deliberate, yet sensitive vocals and the warmth of the instruments. However No-Man may be just too self-conscious for their own good. Enjoyable enough for the first couple of listens then comes a certain predictability and slowly annoyance sets in.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)

"HI-FI NEWS"

One for great romantics. The opening 'Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap' is all you might imagine it to be - a pitter-pat 'Tubular Bells' of a thing, with Ben Coleman's violin punctuating Tim Bowness' Nick Drake-like vocals, while Ian Carr's trumpet and Mel Collins' sax add some jazz legality. Everything's ambient the way you'd hope quality ambient music would be, with substance poking in between those fluffy white clouds. And though No-Man's idea of dance can be roughly translated as trance, the various colours and nuances keep ears perked while the feet are moving. Intriguing, but the feeling remains that No-Man, bless their multi-hued ideas, will never quite manage to put together that all important hit single.

FRED DELLAR


"NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS"

Robert Fripp and several members of former glam-kittens Japan float into this semi-ambient duo's highly tasteful picture, but to very little avail. All is flowers and teardrops, angels and ghosts, a sleepwalk into the pastel-shaded watercolour disco territory once inhabited by The Beloved but later abandoned as far too dull even for them. Yawno. (3)

STEPHEN DALTON


"OOR MAGAZINE"

The English trio No-Man had their debut in 1992 with the EP 'Lovesighs - An Entertainment', which contained a beautiful mix of the silky voice and decadent lyrics of Tim Bowness, the transparent keyboards and subtle dance beats of Steven Wilson and the dreamy violin of Ben Coleman. The follow-up 'Loveblows & Lovecries' was - under pressure from One Little Indian - a little too commercial, but for 'Flowermouth' the trio were given carte blanche. No-Man called in the help of Robert Fripp, who plays with great inspiration on seven tracks, and Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, who with her unique voice gives an extra dimension to the song 'Simple'. There are also very valuable contributions from jazz musicians like Mel Collins (flute) and Ian Carr (trumpet) as well as the former Japan members Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen. Various tracks go on for seven, eight or nine minutes which sometimes takes away the tension but for the most part this CD contains the most wonderful music, which can easily be measured with the best work of similarly unclassifiable acts like Japan and Talk Talk. 'Flowermouth' is not only the most ambitious work by No-Man so far, it is also the most successful.

OENE KUMMER (translation by Yvo)

"MODERN DANCE"

Even without the presence of Bob Fripp and Mel Collins (both from King Crimson), I knew I'd enjoy this album. No-Man released a 12" single when Modern Dance first started. It was called 'In The Trees' (I think) and was backed by a piece with a woman narrating a poem over some hypnotic music. I raved about it then, and I still reckon it's one of the best singles I've ever heard, so I was well prepared. No-Man are a little bit like Dead Can Dance in that their music is rich, deep, well produced and a lot of time has been spent over the sound. Fripp's guitar adds a regal finesse to 'Things Change', 'Simple', 'Animal Ghost' and 'Angel Gets Caught In Beauty Trap'. Collins shows how it's done, and if this wasn't enough, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri appear on here too. Other than say that this is one hell of an album and you really ought to buy it, what else can I say? A really bloody good album.

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)

Remastered 'Flowermouth' is an Excellent Purchase, November 22, 2005
Reviewer: Anthony Morelli "Woofbear" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

An album far "advanced" for it's time. Originally released in 1994 on the "One Little Indian" label, the 2005 remastered version pumps out Steven Wilson & Tim Bowness' purely genius 'Elegant Dreaminess' talent. Both my '94 and 2005 versions of 'Flowermouth' are sitting here in front of me at my desk as I type (for easy reference). In my opinion, "Flowermouth' and 'Wild OPera' are No-Man's 2 best recordings to date. 'Flowermouth' takes you on that mesmeric rollercoaster ride of Euphoric and dramatic music, making it a very moody & brilliant album.

Personally, if anything had to be corrected (perfected), I would've re-recorded "Simple" with a completely different ending. There's 90 seconds of that delerious keyboard and the ending goes nowhere to the imagination. But's it's a delight to hear Lisa Gerrard (of Dead Can Dance) on 'Simple'. Her voice is a great touch to this song...which happens to be one of my favorites, among many on this CD. My absolute favorite is 'You Grow More Beautiful'...with it's lush and elegant arrangements. My 3rd favorite track has to be 'Teardrop Fall'...for it's mesmeric & fluid, yet leaves you floating there in the atmoshpere like many of No-Man's songs do. If your ears are sensitive to the subtle & obvious changes between an original issue and a remastered issue, you'll notice the sharpness of the effects & sound on 'Flowermouth'.


Buy this CD for you won't regret it. I recommend it to anyone who truly appreciates what beautiful music is all about.
To Chellie...I highly recommended 'Flowermouth' to you! ;)

Artist : No-Man
Album : Flowermouth
Quality : CBR, 192kbps, stereo

Tracklisting
------------
01 (9:59) Angel Gets Caught in the Beauty Trap
02 (6:12) You Grow More Beautiful
03 (7:50) Animal Ghost
04 (7:07) Soft Shoulders
05 (3:59) Shell of a Fighter
06 (4:41) Teardrop Fall
07 (7:33) (Watching) Over Me
08 (4:53) Simple
09 (5:40) Things Change

Playing Time : 57:54
Total Size : 79.5 MB

Part1
pass: juicy

Black Is...

A must have album from one of the best bands out there. You'll see it when you'll hear it. Trust me.

Dustrygroove.com
One of our favorite bands of the past 25 years -- honest! Fertile Ground are amazing -- a hip, spiritual jazzy soul combo with a power that rivals the early work of Earth Wind & Fire, or the classic mid 70s recordings of Doug & Jean Carn. At some level, though, they're even better than both -- as they've got a totally tight sound that's a no-bullshit approach to the material, completely honest, and a real breath of fresh air in a world of cliched politics and empty righteousness. The vocals are wonderful -- on a level with Dee Dee Bridgewater at her best -- and the rest of the backing features Latin percussion, Fender Rhodes, and saxes

metropolis.japantoday.com
[quote]
Fertile Ground

Underneath the mass-market radar, the Baltimore soul-jazz collective have sold nearly 200,000 albums


Marital bliss: James Collins (back left) and wife Navasha Daya (front center) lead Fertile Ground

They weren't the first to defy the mainstream record industry-Ani DiFranco proved it could be done a decade ago with her Righteous Babe label-and it's safe to say they won't be the last. But Fertile Ground and their Blackout Studios imprint have achieved something remarkable, selling nearly 200,000 albums without a major label contract or even a distribution deal.

That achievement required not only musical talent, which Fertile Ground demonstrate they have in spades on their latest Black Is... (more on that later), but business savvy, resourcefulness and dedication. A quick telephone conversation with founder and keyboardist James Collins reveals that he's got all these qualities and then some.

"We started with our initial recordings in a very honest way…We wanted to get our music out to people, so how do we do it?" Collins explains. "Record labels seemed to be so inaccessible, and it becomes much more political and contrived when you're dealing with something that has to be a national or global product."

Taking his cue from labels like Okay Player, home to live hip-hop collective the Roots, and his observation of the impetus it's given to the music scene in nearby Philadelphia, Collins launched Blackout to give voice to Fertile Ground's brand of instrumental music, which Collins says was underrepresented amid the headlock of hip-hop on the contemporary US black music scene.

"We represent a resurgence of live music, of just saying, 'Look, we have a concert, and there are people at the concert and we'll sell records to them.' We also try and reach out to stores, but we're not approaching this as 'We're creating a product and how do we sell this product?' We're thinking what do we need to do to continue to create great music, and how do we continue to create music and continue to share it with people? It's a little different from the Sony way of doing things."

Collins formed Fertile Ground seven years ago in Baltimore, deferring entrance to medical school to try his luck as a musician. He wrote, recorded, and produced the band's debut album, Field Songs, and gradually built Fertile Ground from a trio into a seven-piece powerhouse. The band now includes a coterie of like-minded musicians including percussionist Ekendra, who has played with legends from Roberta Flack to Sun Ra, and Collins' wife Navasha Daya, the colorfully attired and powerful singer who now fronts Fertile Ground.

While the group is steeped in the great traditions of African-American music, from the blues and jazz through Motown and funk, Black Is..., released last week in Japan by independent label P-Vine, saw them also taking inspiration from legendary Nigerian bandleader and political firebrand Fela Kuti. The opening track, "Spirit World," launches in with a robust Afrobeat horn line that sets the tone for the lyrics's insistent question: "I want to know the role of my soul in the spirit world."

Woods explains that what they took from Fela was not just his approach to horn charts, but his determination to give a socio-political relevance to his music. "He's one of the few musicians for whom we can appreciate what he contributed not only musically but culturally and socially, and we wanted to use that as the backdrop for a piece that Navasha wrote, which is 'Spirit World.'"

"We certainly respect him for his voice and playing, but that wasn't the point. The point was all the other things that he discussed: poverty in Nigeria and other conditions of his people. We would like to do something similar to that."

Fertile Ground's insistence on integrity in their approach to music, whether from an artistic or business point of view, puts them at odds with the bling-bling ethic that drives much contemporary hip-hop and R&B. "The song 'Artist's Prayer' poses the question, as is the theme throughout the record, 'What is an artist and what should we be asking for?'" says Collins. "There are deeper issues as artists that we should consider, and it [the song] does criticize people who don't understand that. We certainly criticize many of our contemporaries for not taking the artist seriously. If there was no money or prestige, this would still be our religion; this would still be what we do. It's a sacred thing for us."

The search for spiritual meaning is central to Fertile Ground's quest-sometimes perhaps even overwhelmingly earnest-but Collins says the band doesn't hew to any particular faith and represents a scope of religious interests. "In this band you have people who are devout studiers of Hinduism and Shintoism and Buddhism and Catholicism and Europa and Vedic traditions...these are just categories, but when you deal with the simplicity of life practice you're talking about well, 'What have people before me done to get closer to nature and to God?'

"These are the things that we throw on the table. We don't want to isolate specific religions, we don't want to deal with Christ and Mohamed and so forth. We want to look at these things holistically, because all people of integrity are engaged in a constant soul-searching."

Returning to Japan for what Collins says will be Fertile Ground's fourth or fifth time, Collins says that sometimes foreign audiences are more respectful of the contributions of African-American culture than African-Americans himself. And while he probably isn't aware of the challenges that African-Americans living in Japan face, he certainly has it right when it comes to the kind of audience likely to turn out for Fertile Ground's upcoming Blue Note and Motion Blue gigs.

"We love Japan. People are so nice to us and appreciate what we do. It's amazing to me, because black culture is something they've always respected and held with the sort of reverence that I wish everyone in the States did, or the folks who created the culture did. When we travel, people have more respect for our uniqueness and our contributions to art than we have ourselves."[/quote]


Album review @Dustrygroove.com
[quote]
Essential wisdom, knowledge, and grooves from one of the greatest groups going! Fertile Ground may hail from Baltimore, but they've got a global impact -- and are one of the few combos we can think of with a power to rival the most righteous groups of the 70s. Fertile Ground's power lies not only in their rich blend of soul, jazz, funk, and African-inspired rhythms, but in their positive, progressive lyrics -- truly spiritual, and delivered without any sort of hoke or hype -- just forthright ideals that seem to further emphasize a strength that's already apparent in the grooves! Vocalist Navasha Daya sounds better than ever -- and the instrumentation includes some wonderful keyboards from producer/songwriter James Collins, supported by a warm brace of horns that are some of the most soulful to work on record since the glory days of Earth, Wind, & Fire! Sweetly jazz, spiritually soulful, and totally essential -- the kind of record we're proud as punch to stock, and a true instant classic from this timeless group! CD has 14 tracks, including "On This Day", "Live In The Light", "Another Day", "An Artist Prayer", "Shout", "Yellow Daisies", and "Black Is".
[/quote]

Album review @www.knowtheledge.net
[quote]
If ever there was a group whose sonic axis spun interminably on the apex of the global soul underground movement, Fertile Ground would arguably be it. It was in 1997 in the city of Baltimore, hometown to fellow trailblazers, Billie Holiday and Frank Zappa, that this gifted collective was born. And ever since they’ve been laying claim to some of the most enriching soundscapes this side of the cosmos. Little wonder why directional producers from the dance music universe jockey to offer personal reworks. This was the case with Fertile Ground’s, previous album, Seasons Change, which delivered an LP spin-off of dazzling remixes from the likes of Seiji, Kaidi Tatham, Ayro, Jazztronik, Waiwan and Oneness of Two.

Now four deep into their studio album discography with Counterpoint Records, Black Is is Fertile Ground’s latest submission. Originally a trio, the group is now seven in number. Bandleader James Collins consistently delivers the musical arrangements wrapped around the lush vocal talent of Navasha Daya. Their latest material carries on modus operandi: progressive words and sounds resonating from the music spectrum of the afro Diaspora. Audiophiles of all and sundry get served royally, Nubia style.

The opening track is no preamble. Spirit World delves straight into the eardrums in true afro beat fashion. Daya intones bilingually between English and another language of African origin. And just like with Les Nubians, one may not understand linguistically but intuitively the connection is made. Live in the Light (check out the UK remix and enjoy) is a horn-riffed funky stomp and is lyrically telling as to where Daya is coming from, or rather going to, which is a conscious place of proactivity, and illumination. The monologue track, An Artist Prayer, puts paid to this, her warrior drive: “We are honoured to be an underground railroad in audio form. This profession ain’t no hiding place in a battlefield.” True; and a quote that exemplifies another made by Chuck D: “Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age”. The rebel music baton has been handed over, and patterned towards the incumbents’ personal creativity which is of no less quality or effect. As in the band’s previous works, Daya’s inflection is steeped in the awareness that we are still in the throes of a struggle.

The lingering cut Black Is… is as lyrically elevating as it gets towards personal pride and place within cultures that deem to tell otherwise. Collins’ production reins are cannily tempered to modulating degrees depending on the themes and moods that are explored. He allows Daya’s voice to breathe accordingly. The wonderful jazz-tempo song that is You is typical of that symbiosis. Along with Yellow Daisies and Another Day it’s also evident of the stirring romanticism that is a running facet to this spiritually charged band.

Black Is... is rich in its afro diasporic dynamism as well as universal in the connection it makes to souls with an innate appreciation of why acts like Fertile Ground are necessary in our illogical world.

Artist : Fertile Ground
Album : Black Is

Tracklisting
------------
01 (8:04) Spirit World
02 (1:18) Light Shed N
03 (5:57) Live In The Light
04 (5:25) Another Day
05 (2:55) An Artist Prayer
06 (1:50) Shout
07 (4:25) Changing Woman
08 (5:38) A Blues For Me
09 (3:40) Yellow Daisies
10 (7:19) Black Is
11 (6:06) Naked
12 (7:22) You
13 (4:27) On This Day
14 (3:05) Reprise

Playing Time : 67:31

EXPIRED (My bad!!!)