Richard D James SoundCloud - A Gift To The Fans

[Zephyr_Nova]

Agreed.

[Hugh Mughnus]

I was thinking about doing that, but mostly for homemade comps of favorite tracks -that sort of thing. Not sure I'll actually follow through with that. Most of these tracks match up remarkably well sonically with one another.

This.

 

I feel like I would be able to throw together another albums worth of material similar to SAW1, another AB, another etc etc, just the way it is. I think mastering the tracks differently takes away from certain aesthetics of the period. And I don't believe when Richard said none of the tracks were mastered at all. I suspect many of them were. Compare most of the soundcloud stuff to something like Organ. Organ sounds like it was fully sequenced and never mastered. The other tracks (most) have actually decent sound quality... Don't they?

 

Can you imagine taking something like ventolin and just high shelving it (-gain of course)...

Edited February 2, 2015 by StephenG

[atypic]

Man, thanks Richard and thanks Google Fiber for letting me yoink all 110 tracks in minutes.

 

Jealous...but we're next on the list!

 

I dunno about you guys, but the tape fuckups in Sam's Car really do it for me

 

Agreed!

[atypic]

I posted about this a few days ago, but it got lost in the shuffle (it was posted in the clamor of battle), but could some one identify this track?

 

http://forum.watmm.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=8614

 

As far as I can tell, it's an unreleased AFX track played live at some point that's quite good. But maybe I'm mistaken.

Edited February 2, 2015 by atypic

[Guest Aces]

Anybody interested in mastering any of these? There are a few i'd like to try

 

I was thinking of having a go at it actually.

[ypc1200]

Finished organizing my files, and I've uploaded them in case anyone wants them, free account though so I don't know how much bandwidth/how many downloads I'm allowed:https://mega.co.nz/#!oQYhiZLR!0JgeqyNmIi2kCJDCTuO3-6Dt3tnKFk1r9K2TO1kb4Yo112 tracks (110 downloaded from Soundcloud + the 128 kbps streaming versions of the 2 that were only briefly available).I've left the filenames unchanged, but tags are as follows.Artist: AFX (it's the hashtag he added to nearly every track and I thought it unnecessary to make exceptions for the couple of aphex/pbod/... ones).Album: user48736353001Track number: Order they were uploadedTitle: As on Soundcloud (so sometimes different from the file name)I also added his comments and embedded the artwork for each track.If someone downloads this and finds anything wrong with it (bad files or errors in the tags or whatever), let me know.

Thanks SO much for this. This is exactly what a lot of us were looking for. I downloaded it this morning, it perfectly imported into my iTunes with the original order, artwork & comments, and I've been jamming to it all day. I had to log back in tonight to show how much it was appreciated. You da man!

 

Edit: I just noticed you edited your post. Did you originally have these tracks changed to the names on Soundcloud and then later change them back to the file names (since I know some tracks downloaded with file names that were different than what was on Soundcloud)?

Edited February 2, 2015 by ypc1200

[Vaaler9]

I dunno about you guys, but the tape fuckups in Sam's Car really do it for me

Agreed! Love that track and definitely that part.

[Guest LoveRhino]

 

 

 

 

Listening to Parking Lot now... at first I thought it was strange he used the same sample that janet jackson had used for her song... but then, after listening now, I just realized that he had done that way before janet jackson and I went check the dates... JJ's song is 97; according to his notes, Parking Lot is 88-89ish (and you could tell that from the style of the track too)... how cool is that? it's 8 years before the same exact sample was used in a massive superproduction track

I thought the Parking Lot sample was from Counting Crows ''ooh baby we paved paradise and put up a parking lot, ooh baby'' Just shows how many naff 90's popcycles were borrowing from eachother. ''Baby please, let me pave paradise. I can put up a parking lot. I'll get rich quick''

sounds like joni mitchell's version to me, but my ears are old

It's the Joni version without a doubt.

 

 

I dunno about you guys, but the tape fuckups in Sam's Car really do it for me

Agreed! Love that track and definitely that part.

Yep. Nostalgia. Like rewinding a tape by swirling it with a pen to save on Walkman batteries. Or adjusting tracking on a rented Betamax video. Yes, I am a Victorian gentleman. What of it?

[Firewalkwithme]

I think mastering the tracks differently takes away from certain aesthetics of the period. And I don't believe when Richard said none of the tracks were mastered at all. I suspect many of them were. Compare most of the soundcloud stuff to something like Organ. Organ sounds like it was fully sequenced and never mastered. The other tracks (most) have actually decent sound quality... Don't they?

Can you imagine taking something like ventolin and just high shelving it (-gain of course)...

 

Many of them have very good sound quality, the majority even, but the more I listen the more I'm realizing that the collection is rough around the edges. A lot of mastering is really just normalizing the volume, making everything listenable and polishing the eq. It's not meant to fundamentally change how something sounds, that's typically done in the engineering/mixing phase. There are a number of tracks in this collection that are too loud (20 Vtnm), too soft (Bellbrk), and then there are the ones with crazy highend frequencies that hurt my ears (17 Alis Trak). The older tracks tend to have more volume and frequency problems and the newer ones seem to be more consistent.

[Guest murphythecat8]

most sounds good, but some sounds terrible andthe highs especially breaks my ear at times.

 

after multiple listen, I can see why a whole lot of those tracks were unreleased. there's a lot of average material or songs its evident Richard would/should have work more on it if he would have had ever the plan on releasing them.

but I cannot understand how he could sit on a good bunch of them. I can easily compile about 3 album worth of very good albums!!!

Edited February 2, 2015 by murphythecat8

[melancholera]

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

[awepittance]

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

yeah it does ,but way better. I think it's a pretty nice reminder to a lot of newer producers today like Balam Acab that a single electronic musician invented/refined so many original styles over such a relatively short period of time. I would like to think of it as some kind of challenge and encouragement for new producers especially to break out of the box more and not feel comfortable staying with one genre/sound palette too long, and hopefully see why its a good thing to keep trying new types of sounds

Edited February 2, 2015 by John Ehrlichman

[Richie Sombrero]

I'm going through and liking all my favourites on soundcloud. Even if I'm not adding to the play count I think it's the least I can do to show some appreciation.

[melancholera]

 

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

yeah it does ,but way better. I think it's a pretty nice reminder to a lot of newer producers today like Balam Acab that a single electronic musician invented/refined so many original styles over such a relatively short period of time. I would like to think of it as some kind of challenge and encouragement for new producers especially to break out of the box more and not feel comfortable staying with one genre/sound palette too long, and hopefully see why its a good thing to keep trying new types of sounds

 

 

Yeah. There aren't any newer contemporary electronic artists that are as prolific/varied/innovative as AFX was in the 90's that I can think of. Not saying there aren't any great artists right now or anything. Just nobody seems to have that amount of freedom and abandon in their work.

[Bambi]

Here are a couple of files I remastered for you all. A louder sounding version of bellbrk with the loud subs made a bit more managable, and utopia with the low mids softened and those hi-freq fm sounds less harsh.

 

bellbrk (limited/compressed): https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5oeo6phip6mwt8/bellbrk%20%28limited%29.mp3?dl=0

utopia (EQ): https://www.dropbox.com/s/25tniohmlvcb4t0/8%20utopia%20%28EQ%29.mp3?dl=0

[awepittance]

very nice job on both, i think all the older tracks like bellbrk especially could use a similar touch

about midway through the song now yeah this sounds pretty great, much improved

edit: do more pls

Edited February 2, 2015 by John Ehrlichman

[Bambi]

I don't think any of the others needed it tbh. I just did it because those 2 were too loud and too quiet.

[awepittance]

 

 

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

yeah it does ,but way better. I think it's a pretty nice reminder to a lot of newer producers today like Balam Acab that a single electronic musician invented/refined so many original styles over such a relatively short period of time. I would like to think of it as some kind of challenge and encouragement for new producers especially to break out of the box more and not feel comfortable staying with one genre/sound palette too long, and hopefully see why its a good thing to keep trying new types of sounds

 

 

Yeah. There aren't any newer contemporary electronic artists that are as prolific/varied/innovative as AFX was in the 90's that I can think of. Not saying there aren't any great artists right now or anything. Just nobody seems to have that amount of freedom and abandon in their work.

 

Coil is one of the only other acts I can think of who explored such varied territory (if we're talking strictly 'electronic music')

its just very inspiring. I know that the same can be gathered from just listening to his discography, but this just blows the doors off everything for me. Its very hard to explain. like i was saying in earlier post, the implications this has not just for fans but for the entire world of electronic music will not be felt immediately but will have a huge impact. Maybe im just a really excited fan who is losing my grip on reality

Edited February 2, 2015 by John Ehrlichman

[Firewalkwithme]

Here are a couple of files I remastered for you all. A louder sounding version of bellbrk with the loud subs made a bit more managable, and utopia with the low mids softened and those hi-freq fm sounds less harsh.

 

bellbrk (limited/compressed): https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5oeo6phip6mwt8/bellbrk%20%28limited%29.mp3?dl=0

utopia (EQ): https://www.dropbox.com/s/25tniohmlvcb4t0/8%20utopia%20%28EQ%29.mp3?dl=0

 

I really hadn't "heard" bellbrk until I just listened to that. What an amazing song! Thank you.

[melancholera]

 

 

 

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

yeah it does ,but way better. I think it's a pretty nice reminder to a lot of newer producers today like Balam Acab that a single electronic musician invented/refined so many original styles over such a relatively short period of time. I would like to think of it as some kind of challenge and encouragement for new producers especially to break out of the box more and not feel comfortable staying with one genre/sound palette too long, and hopefully see why its a good thing to keep trying new types of sounds

 

 

Yeah. There aren't any newer contemporary electronic artists that are as prolific/varied/innovative as AFX was in the 90's that I can think of. Not saying there aren't any great artists right now or anything. Just nobody seems to have that amount of freedom and abandon in their work.

 

Coil is one of the only other acts I can think of who explored such varied territory (if we're talking strictly 'electronic music')

its just very inspiring. I know that the same can be gathered from just listening to his discography, but this just blows the doors off everything for me. Its very hard to explain. like i was saying in earlier post, the implications this has not just for fans but for the entire world of electronic music will not be felt immediately but will have a huge impact. Maybe im just a really excited fan who is losing my grip on reality

 

 

Cool, I'll have to check him/them out. Thanks.

 

I think this massive release will be very inspiring and invigorating for many artists. So yeah, I also think it'll have an impact in the future. Hell, it's made me want to get back to making tunes and potentially more albums for bandcamp (I used to average a finished track every week or two, but have slowed way down in the last couple of years).

[Haste]

 

35 Japan sounds a lot like Balam Acab 10+ years before Balam released anything.

yeah it does ,but way better. I think it's a pretty nice reminder to a lot of newer producers today like Balam Acab that a single electronic musician invented/refined so many original styles over such a relatively short period of time. I would like to think of it as some kind of challenge and encouragement for new producers especially to break out of the box more and not feel comfortable staying with one genre/sound palette too long, and hopefully see why its a good thing to keep trying new types of sounds

 

 

Yes, great statement. I kinda feel the same way about the Cocteau Twins where their mid-80s albums... something like Treasure - every song is like a new style of music and all these years later I hear artists doing a watered down versions of those styles. Same sense of freedom and abandon in those albums.

 

35 Japan gives me the same feelings Mezzanine did back in the day. Why were you hiding this track on your hard drive, Richard?!

[Goiter Sanchez]

35 Japan gives me the same feelings Mezzanine did back in the day. Why were you hiding this track on your hard drive, Richard?!

 

He wasn't hiding it as it had already been released in 1993 on this Soft Ballet remix album:

http://www.discogs.com/Soft-Ballet-Twist-And-Turn/release/1711214

;)

[Adieu]

Here are a couple of files I remastered for you all. A louder sounding version of bellbrk with the loud subs made a bit more managable, and utopia with the low mids softened and those hi-freq fm sounds less harsh.

 

bellbrk (limited/compressed): https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5oeo6phip6mwt8/bellbrk%20%28limited%29.mp3?dl=0

utopia (EQ): https://www.dropbox.com/s/25tniohmlvcb4t0/8%20utopia%20%28EQ%29.mp3?dl=0

 

thx

[Chris Toffer]

 

35 Japan gives me the same feelings Mezzanine did back in the day. Why were you hiding this track on your hard drive, Richard?!

 

He wasn't hiding it as it had already been released in 1993 on this Soft Ballet remix album:

http://www.discogs.com/Soft-Ballet-Twist-And-Turn/release/1711214

;)

 

Made in '93.. what a champion

 

An album of industrial techno like this would be jizzworthy

 

Also digging 19 ssnb at the moment... so nice

[sc5]188153039[/sc5]

[si clone]

Just wondering has anyone bothered to upload all of the files to one dropbox link now they can all be downloaded at 320kbps?