HIGH TONE (DUB FROM FRANCE)

-
High Tone is a Dub band from Lyon, France. Formed in 1997, the band came with an emergence of the french Dub Scene, with bands like Brain Damage Sound System, Kaly Live Dub, Le Peuple de l'Herbe, Improvisators Dub or Meï Teï Shô. Formed by five members, High Tone feeds their music with various influences, such as Drum'n'bass, Ambient, Trance, Vintage Dub with artists like King Tubby or Lee "Scratch" Perry. After a few self produced vinyl EPs, the band finally signed at the label Jarring Effects (Lyon, France). High Tone members are now considered as major actors in the French Dub Scene, and the band is also known for numerous collaborations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Tone
-
The irreverent heirs of Lee Scratch Perry, brought up from an early age on the most rootsy rock steady, High Tone's universe has expanded over the last ten years, mixing strings, percussions and samples, to become a fully blossomed reference on the French dub scene.
Their bloom is a breath of life, leading you off the beaten track and yet well aware of its heritage and specific musical codes, both able to satisfy the purists and build up new following among electro and world-music amateurs. "Roots is (also) about what you do with them", such could be the motto of this Lyon-based quintet, which has stretched way beyond the somewhat cumbersome quest for a "vintage" sound, taking classic dub along towards more unexpected combinations. Rather that machine-based blending, the five Tones have opted for a choice of live guitars / bass / drums / DJ / keyboards, in order to provide their sound with this organic texture.
Over the years and albums (four since 1997, as well as crossovers with other dub icons such as Zenzile and Improvisator Dub), High Tone has embedded its dub with sonic distortions, hip hop gimmicks, down tempo rhythms, creating a wholly original sound. An artistic course where risk-taking parallels an undeniable efficiency and strong public backing, reinforced by monumental live performances and supported by a striking graphical mark (devised by a member of Komplex Kapharnaüm, a street art association that expertly metamorphoses urban environments). A course which brings them all the closer to their "almost-twins" Ezekiel (also signed on Jarring Effect label), with whom they share the battle flag of a rich, uncompromising, hybrid and hypnotising French dub. Throughout colourful albums full of surprises, the five Lyon lads take the listener on a vivid trip, a bizarre interface between tradition and modernity.
Their latest little gem, Underground Wobble, takes off from where Wave Digger (2005) had momentarily paused, pushing the limits even further. The percussions run wild, the guitars are more incisive and metallic than ever, the oriental echoes take us down new routes, before another dive into an industrial electro atmosphere blended with break beat... The dub (or so-called novo dub) becomes eager and greedy in these new playgrounds. All the while, you can feel Underground Wobble consorting with the verve of Amon Tobin (Speed 110), the frenzy of Prefuse 73 (Freakency), the meanders of Mezzanine period Massive Attack (Understellar) or the jungle of Goldie at its best... The opus alternates between tracks that are stretching out towards an abrasive electro texture and tracks that are closer to reggae first loves. Could this movement trouble their fans? Surely not, for the essence of High Tone remains ever-present: a whole and rich sound, hypnotic melodies, an uncanny skill at blending genres in order to create their very own.

The High Tone "touch" is undoubtedly on its way forward.

Xavier Queron. Translation Jacob Matthews
http://www.hightone.org/
-
http://rapidshare.com/files/93984205/High_Tone_-_Wave_Digger.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/87333814/High_Tone_-_Opus_incertum.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12596331/HiToneLiv.rar
-

DIRECT CONNECTION (DUB FROM GREECE)

-
Direct Connection is a collective musical effort which organized SUB + DUB, its own Dub laboratory in Athens in 1998, in order to explore the correlations among rythm, psycedelia and echo-chromatism. Direct Connection is a nine - member live band which converts the studio into a dynamic implement and composes groovy sound phenomena in real time. Direct Connection are randomly various facts which interact, as they are, transforming collective genius into music and video.
-
http://www.myspace.com/directconnectionsoundsystem
http://www.directconnection.gr/

Ventriloquism

Ventriloquism is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to "throw" ones voice. However, the term "throwing one's voice" is misleading, because it implies that a sound's physical origin has changed, when really the change has been perceptual and not physical. The illusion of ventriloquism is just that, an illusion. A ventriloquist is skilled at speaking without moving his or her lips. The audience therefore actually detects the sound of the voice from the ventriloquist’s mouth, but sees only the mouth of the puppet moving. Thus, two modalities are in conflict. Vision detects the location of the speaker as distinct from where audition (hearing) localizes the speaker. When these two modalities are in conflict, our perceptual system must resolve audition in determining where objects are located in space. The unconscious mind, therefore, resolves the discrepancy between these two modalities by hearing the voice as if it is coming from the moving mouth of the puppet. This short-term change in perception is called capture. This specific capture concerning ventriloquism is an example of ‘visual capture’ because the visual system dominates the auditory system. While the illusion is extremely convincing, ventriloquists do not actually have the ability to ‘throw’ their voices. However, they are skilled at deceiving audiences through their practice of speaking intelligible sounds without moving their mouths and moving the dummy’s mouth in synchrony with the sound of their own voice. Indian Ventriloquist and Puppeteer Ramdas Padhye defines Ventriloquism as "An Art of throwing your voice and creating an illusion that it is coming from some other place" .
-
The Greeks called this gastromancy (Greek: εγγαστριμυθία) and it was often closely aligned with aspects of necromancy in that it was used to make it seem that the spirits of the dead had returned to pass on information retrieved from beyond the grave. In the Middle Ages it was thought to be similar to witchcraft. As Spiritualism led to stage magic and escapology, so ventriloquism became more of a performance art as, starting around the 16th century, it shed its mystical trappings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquism
-
Ventriloquism got its start in ancient times, somewhere around the sixth century BC, it is believed, when it was used to supposedly communicate with the dead. The first known ventriloquist of this type was Louis Brabant. He was in the court of the French King Francis the First. It became a widespread belief that the spirits of the dead went to the stomachs of the prophets and continued to exist there. The prophets were then able to foretell the future by the spirits who were speaking from his or her belly. Hence the name "ventriloquist" which means "belly speaker" in Latin. Of course, it was the prophets themselves who had learned the art of ventriloquism so they could fool their listeners and claim to have divine powers. For a long time, ventriloquism was viewed negatively by the Christian church. Finally, though, it was looked upon as simply being a form of entertainment. Listening to the "voices from the belly" was no longer done. Finally, at the end of the nineteenth century, a comedian by the name of Fred Russell came up with an act whic he performed with his dummy. Russell became known as the "father of modern ventriloquism." Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wooden dummy named CHarlie McCarthy came on the scene years later in 1938 and ended up becoming an international celebrity. Buffalo Bob Smith and his cowboy dummy, who was named Howdy Doody, had their own television show for over ten years, starting in the 1940's. Then, Shari Lewis and her hand puppet, which was named Lamb Chop, became popular on television in the 1950's and 1960's.

Ventriloquism is a practiced skill that is achieved by throwing one's voice. That is, a ventriloquist use a wooden dummy or doll which he or she places on their hand in order to operate their movements. The ventriloquist then pretends to carry on a conversation with the dummy by moving its mouth and providing its voice. The dummy's voice actually comes from the ventriloquist, but since there is no sign that he or she is moving his or her mouth or lips, then the voice seems to come from the wooden dummy. Our eyes naturally try to zero-in on the source of the noises or the voice that we hear. But, by controlling the movement of his or her lips, and by not moving the mouth, a ventriloquist successfully tricks us into thinking that the voice we are hearing is coming from another source, such as his or her wooden dummy. We know better, but a good ventriloquist can make it seem that his or her dummy is actually talking even though we know for a fact that it is not.
You can learn ventriloquism yourself by studying the many books and videos that are available on the market today. You will need to practice in front of a mirror so that you can practice not moving your lips or your mouth as you speak for your dummy. In order to perform your new skill, you will also need to choose and purchase a dummy, of course, which will then be used as your sidekick.
http://www.essortment.com/all/ventriloquismhi_rlty.htm
-
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO TALK WITHOUT MOVING YOUR LIPS
-

The REBIRTH Museum

-
Register at Rebirth's Museum site and download the full program(iso) and many other stuff....
It's a classic and it's free...
Memories of the early and mid 90's -oldskool loops,samples and sounds-
-

May 1st, International Workers' Day

Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might
Take the wealth that you are making,
It belongs to you by right.
No one will for bread be crying
We'll have freedom, love and health,
When the grand red flag is flying
In the Workers' Commonwealth.

-

http://www.mayweek.ab.ca/

What Is Proletarian Culture, and Is It Possible?

-
International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day) is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labour movement. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout Europe and most of the rest of the world .
International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers'_Day
-

May Day and the International

-