No, No, No...Too Spooky

I was listening to Rhythm & Sound’s The Versions yesterday. The version of The Versions that I posted up was on the Burial Mix label, but I realized that they were released here in the US on the Asphodel label out of San Francisco. I used to listen to a lot of their releases in the 90s. 

 

In Greece the Aspodel lily covers the bleakest hillsides with enduring blossoms. In Greek mythology, the Aspodel is the plant of the dead.

Most of Asphodel's output has been lumped under the genre/dump-bucket Illbient.

I dug through my music & found a few. One of the first ones I came across was Tipsy - "Trip Tease". Tipsy was one of the more interesting electronic music groups of the late 90s / early 00s. They incorporated exotica/lounge/soundtrack samples along with retro rhythms to create a unique electro-Exotica.

 

 

Tipsy - "Trip Tease" - The Seductive Sounds of Tipsy, Asphodel 0967, 1996.
all decryption codes in comments

Mr. Excitement
Space Golf
Grossenhosen
Tuatara
Nude on the Moon
El Bombo Atomico
Liquordelic
Cinnabar
Fuad Ramses
Oops!
Ugly Stadium
Something Tropical
Zenith 

 

 

Paul D. Miller's DJ Spooky mixtapes caught the ear of Naut Humon of Asphodel records. Through him most of the New York Illbient-associated bands were signed to Asphodel. The first release was the Asphodel 0968 compilation Incursions in Illbient released in 1996. It featured Sub Dub, DJ Spooky, Byzar, & We™, all vital proponents of the New York scene. 

 

Various - Incursions in Illbient, Asphodel 0968, 1996.

Dancehall Malfunction    
Killa Instinkt    
Oaxaca     - Sub Dub

Soon Forward    
Anansi's Gambit (DJ Spooky's on the Island of the Lost Souls mix)
Why Patterns - DJ Spooky

Subtyranya
Phylyx    
Purelove    
Rakta    
Ynjyn    
Rypstop - Byzar

The Chinatown Dub    
You    
Flutesque    
Transient Scratch - We™ (The Umix)

 

 

 

 

DJ Olive & DJ Spooky are both name-dropped as the originators of the term illbient. The term was first used by DJ Olive in 1994, as a play on the words "ill" (hip-hop slang, a positive expression like dope, sick, or bad) & ambient. The term wasn't used to describe the genre until two years later with producer DJ Spooky. Illbient developed in parallel with Triphop & ambient Dub. The genre had its peak during 1996-2002. Illbient combined ambient soundscapes with hip hop drum patterns, breaks, & samples through the busy effect layering of Dub.

Illbient acted as the experimental electronic backdrop to New York's dance music scene at the time of the arrival of the dot.com generation, the gentrification of Brooklyn, & Disneyfication of Manhattan.

In Brooklyn, there was the dub & hip hop experimentalism of DJ Olive, Lloop, & Once11 (known as We™), the Wordsound label headed by Skiz 'Spectre' Fernando Jr., & Bill Laswell, whose studio acted as a hub for many artists. I have posted up four volumes of Laswell's Crooklyn Dub Consortium - Vol. 1 & 2  & Crooklyn Dub Outernational - Vol. 3 & 4.

Over in Manhattan there was the noise & breakbeat experimentalism of Paul D. 'DJ Spooky' Miller, the multicultural eclecticism of Byzar, the multimedia approaches of Tim Sweet, & the party community acumen of Carlos Soul Slinger & Soundlab Cultural Alchemy.

Here is the DJ Spooky Asphodel ice breaker.

 

 

DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid - Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Asphodel 0961, 1996.

Intro
The Vengeance of Galaxy 5    
Phase Interlude    
Galactic Funk (Tau Ceti mix)    
Hologrammic Dub    
Dance Of The Morlocks (Arto Lindsay - guitar)
Juba    
Thoughts like Rain    
Anansi Abstrakt    
Grapheme
Phase Interlude Pt. 2    
Nihilismus Dub
The Terran Invasion of Alpha Cantauri Year 2794    
Time Out of Joint    
High Density    
Outtro

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We were so allergic to the term illbient by then. We felt it was really trying to shut people out and control the sound. It was no longer about a sound but about certain bands that had been favored. We felt that that was a total dead end. It was everything about Manhattan that we hated."

     Gregor 'DJ OLive - the Audio Janitor' Asch 

My favorite DJ Spooky release is the remixes of Optometry, a collaboration with Mad Professor & Lee "Scratch" Perry.

 

 

 

DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid feat. Mad Professor & Lee "Scratch" Perry - Dubtometry

Thirsty Ear THI57128.2 (The Blue Series), 2003.

Dubtometry (Optometry remix) - Alter Echo
That Subliminal Kid Vs. The Last Mohican - DJ Goo
Optometrix - J-Live
Jungle Soldier - Lee "Scratch" Perry
Variation Cybemetique (Karsh Kale remix) - DJ Spooky
Parachutes (Dub Version) - DJ Spooky
Sequentia Absentia (Absentia Lee "Scratch" Perry Intro)
Variation Cybernetique (Twilight Circus remix) - DJ Spooky
Interlude - Mad Professor
Sequentia Absentia (Colorform remix) - DJ Spooky
Rosemary Intro - DJ Spooky
Bomb Massive (Optometry remix) - DJ Goo
Interlude - Alter Echo
Dementia Absentia (Blend remix) - DJ Spooky
Kollage (remix) - I-Sound
Asphalt (Negativland remix) -DJ Spooky
Optometry (Animal Crackers remix) - DJ Spooky

 

 

 

 

 

While I'm in the Dub / DJ Spooky / compilation mode, here's one final offering. Another one from DJ Spooky with unusual Dub. Unlike most Trojan compilations, this was released exclusively in the US.

 

 

DJ Spooky - Creation Rebel - Trojan Records 40th Anniversary; 

Re-mixed, Re-visioned, Re-versioned, Trojan Records 06076-80581-2, 2007.

Creation Rebel - DJ Spooky Meets Mad Professor & Rob Swift
Mr. Brown remix - Bob Marley
Revolution Disco Dub - DJ Spooky meets Tapper Zukie
No No No remix - Dawn Penn
Dis Poem Burns Babylon - The Observers meets Mutabaruka
Under Mi Sensi remix - Barrington Levy
East of the River Nile remix - Augustus Pablo
Dis Poem Burns Babylon v2 - The Upsetters meet Mutbaruka
Freedom Reign - DJ Spooky presents Michael Rose
Soul Rebel remix - Bob Marley
Under Mi Sleng Teng remix - Wayne Smith
Mr. Brown (a capella)    - Bob Marley
Babylon Burning Dub    - DJ Spooky Vs the Observers
Dub of the Travellers (bonus beats) - Scientist

Be ill,
NØ