Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas Begins...

At midnight tonight "Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas" will begin. While many bloggers will be spreading the holiday cheer by sharing Christmas-themed albums, we here at Digital Meltd0wn have decided to say: Bah! Humbug! For those who haven't been following the blog, basically we plan to take the exact opposite course of those bloggers by sharing a plethora of horrifying and blasphemous items. For those of you who are familiar with the Halloween Countdown event, the concept is very similar. We will attempt to post at least one horror-related item each day during the month of December until Christmas arrives.

In addition to the regular contributors here at DM, we will be joined by a couple of special guest bloggers. Strange Ranger from the Motherfucker=Redeemer blog and Phelpster from the Manchester Morgue blog will be our special guests of honor, and I'm sure you will be delighted horrified by the material they intend to share. I would like to thank them for being generous enough to devote their time to this project. Please make them feel welcome here. We may also have a few more guest bloggers join us as late arrivals during the weeks to come.

I won't reveal what my fellow contributors intend to share, but I wanted to give you an idea of some of the items that I personally intend to post. The majority of my posts will most likely consist of out of print soundtracks to horror films. As requested, I plan to continue where I left off with the "Main Titles From Unreleased Horror Scores" series. I also plan to share more horror comic/magazine scans. Warren's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" will definitely make an appearance. I will leave it up to the readers to decide, but I will either continue where I left off with the "Creepy" and "Eerie" series, or share the complete run of EC's "The Vault of Horror" and "The Haunt of Fear". Lovecraft fans can expect to see various items devoted to the master.

It's almost midnight now, so without further ado, let Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas begin...

Roger Roger - Drama and Suspense (Crea Sound - MC 8013) (320kbps)

This will be the last album in my dark and twisted library music series for the time being. The theme will resume again in January. For those of you who haven't been following the blog, we will be starting a project that has been in the works since October. "Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas" will kick off on December 1st. I will be making a more formal announcement later this evening to reveal the names of the guest bloggers that will be participating in the event, as well as some of the items you can expect to see posted.

Roger Roger (aka Cecil Leuter, Eric Swan) is probably best known for his library music albums consisting of upbeat electronic pop and contemporary classical music. However, "Drama and Suspense" starkly contrasts with the bulk of his output, and stands as one dark and sinister piece of work in comparison. Drama and Suspense was released on the French library music label, Crea Sound, some time in the 1970s. This is another one of those albums that doesn't have a date on the front or back cover, and no one seems to know the exact year it was released. This album was originally shared on the Painted On Silence blog. Unfortunately the admin of that amazing blog decided to remove all of the download links from his posts and call it quits more than two years ago.

As the title suggests, Side A contains the dramatic themes, while Side B contains the suspense. Side A is the stronger of the two sides in my opinion. I'm reminded of some of the old science-fiction/horror soundtracks from the '50s and '60s, particularly some of Akira Ifukube's work on Godzilla and various other Japanese monster movie soundtracks he produced. The first couple of tracks have a militaristic feel to them, as if two massive armies are about to meet on the battlefield. Judging from the titles, I assume this is what Roger Roger had in mind as well. These tracks are full of pounding percussion and bursts of heavy brass. While this side represents the drama, some of these themes also have an ominous and suspenseful tone to them as well. The last two tracks, particularly "Strange Motion", deviate from this formula a bit. "Strange Motion" has more of a whimsical and dreamlike science-fiction sound to it.

Side B represents the "Suspense" in the title. It consists entirely of tracks which are darker and more mysterious in tone, which is something you don't usually hear from Roger Roger, and I for one love it! These tracks also have that early sci-fi/horror feel to them, which I have grown rather fond of over the years. I consider the first track, "Frankstenstein", along with the last track, "Weird Moment", to be the strongest on Side B. Frankenstein introduces the macabre sounds, and happens to be my favorite on Side B. It features that classic sci-fi/horror sound I have repeatedly referred to. The sinister music is punctuated with outbursts of deep brass, and accompanied by the sound of gusts of wind, which increase in intentisity as the track progresses. My only complaint about this release would be that the next few tracks are somewhat similar to one another and repetitive. "Weird Moment" closes out Side B on a strong note though. Although it is rather simple in structure, it has a genuinely creepy sound. I can't be certain, but I believe either synthesizers or keyboards are being used here to create the eerie melody heard throughout the track. It is accompanied by the faint sound of rattling chains, and occassionally interrupted by mellow, dreamlike interludes.

While this isn't the strongest album Roger Roger ever released, it is certainly a departure from the style of music he was known for, making it a unique oddity in his vast catalog. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this will be the last library music album that I will share until January. Let Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas begin...

Year of Release: 197x (Unknown)
Label: Crea Sound Ltd.
Catalog #: MC 8013
Genres: Library Music, Contemporary Classical
File Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
A1. War of the Planets
A2. The Aggressors
A3. The Hobsters
A4. Dark Journey
A5. Invasion
A6. Strange Motion
A7. Alert
B1. Frankenstein
B2. Furtive Incident
B3. Catastrophe
B4. The Search
B5. Anxiety and Fear
B6. The Rendezvous
B7. Weird Moment

Download: Roger Roger - Drama and Suspense (Crea Sound - MC 8013)
Download Size: 65MB

Camille Sauvage - Fantasmagories (Montparnasse 2000 - MP 33) (320kbps)

With our upcoming "Nightmare Before Christmas" project beginning on December 1st, I wanted to transition into the project by sharing a couple of dark and twisted library music lps. First up is the one that immediately came to mind, and also happens to be one of my favorite library music albums - "Fantasmagories" by French Composer Camille Sauvage, released on the legendary Montparnasse 2000 library. He also released a handful of albums on Montparnasse 2000 using the alias Eric Framond, which people often mistakenely cite as his real name. I couldn't find any concrete information regarding the year this was released, but I am certain that it was released some time in the 1970s.

While Fantasmagories is a horror themed album, it isn't as horrifying as people often like to make it out to be. However, for a library music lp this is certainly a twisted album that does have its darker side. This is very abstract music, perhaps best categorized as musique concrete or avant-garde depending on who you ask. In many ways this reminds me of a cross between Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper's soundtrack to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Japanese duo Haruomi Hosono and Tadanori Yokoo's soundtrack to Cochin Moon. Sauvage masterfully incorporates screeching out-of-tune saxophones, menacing basslines, a plethora of percussion instruments, finger-snaps, strange electronic sounds, ghostly voices, Jews harp, horns and flutes to create this dark masterpiece.

There is also a distinct jazz sound which can be heard on tracks such as "Magma", "Enfirissimo", and "Pavillon Des Agités". Although they retain the sparse and disonant mood created by the other tracks, they also sharply contrast with them in several ways. Aside from the jazz flavor, the most obvious difference is that they are lighter in mood. They also loosly adhere to a rhythmic meter, as opposed to the complete abandonment displayed on the more abstract tracks.

On a side note, this is the only Camille Sauvage album that I have had the pleasure of listening to. I have searched for the album "7 Drums Concerto" for years to no avail. If any of you could help me out I would greatly appreciate the gesture.

Year of Release: 197x
Label: Montparnasse 2000
Catalog #: MP 33
Genres: Library Music, Experimental, Musique Concrete...
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
A1. Terrifical Night
A2. Musique De L'Au-Delà
A3. Magma
A4. Vivisection
A5. Ectoplasme
A6. Enferissimo
B1. Charette Fantôme
B2. Le Jugement Dernier
B3. Pavillon Des Agités
B4. Rapacité Nocturne
B5. Requiem Pour Satan
B6. Rhapsodie Pour Belphégor

Download: Camille Sauvage - Fantasmagories
Download Size: 77MB

Sven Libaek - Boney (1972) + Nickel Queen (1973)

Sven Libaek has experienced a recent surge in popularity due to his compositions from "Inner Space" recently being used in the film, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou". Below you will find two rare soundtracks from the Australian composer available for download, "Boney" and "Nickel Queen", both of which have long been out of print. Before I begin I would like to say that I am posting these with the serious Sven Libaek fan in mind, which is not to say that you shouldn't listen to these if you're not familiar with his work. However, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Sven Libaek, I would recommend that you check out some of the more celebrated and interesting works in his catalog before listening to these, such as "Inner Space", "My Thing", "Nature Walkabout" or "Solar Flares".

The other reason I am posting these two albums is due to the controversy that was generated over their removal from another blog. Both of these were posted on the Pecks Spet Rips blog over three years ago, much to the delight of Libaek fans everywhere. While the download link for "Boney" simply expired, shortly after the "Nickel Queen post was made the "original ripper" left a commen demanding that the blog admin not only remove the download links, but the entire post. The reason given was that he was angry over having not received credit for the rip. Despite the admin's attempt to give this person credit in his post, they insisted that it be removed regardless. Suprisingly enough the blogger removed the download links along with the post, depriving many people the opportunity to listen to this rare Sven Libaek album. TI've already discussed exactly how I feel about the entire episode in the comments section of this post so I won't go into it again. However, I will say that as long as these albums remain out of print, they will remain on Digital Meltd0wn.

Fortunately I was able to grab "Boney" before it was removed. I would like to thank øשlqæda for leaving "Nickel Queen" in the comments section of my previous post. He runs a blog called Holy Marbles, which can be found here: http://holywarbles.blogspot.com Holy Warbles is an absolutely amazing blog featuring tons of great music from all over the world. Be sure to pay it a visit if you haven't already.

Sven Libaek - Boney

"Boney" was a television series about an Aboriginal detective. While Boney certainly has a few suspenseful crime jazz tracks, it is largely a laid back affair and the action packed spectacles you might expect to hear are conspicuously absent. As a reviewer on another site so aptly stated: "judging by the soundtrack this must have been the most chilled-out cop show of all time", and I tend to agree. One would expect "Action Theme" and "Murder in the Outback" to be suspenseful numbers, yet they are actually mellow jazz compositions, with a very brief and mild amount of suspense on "Murder". There are a couple of tracks which have a nice chilled out spaghetti-western vibe to them, which I would imagine Libaek used to coincide with the rural setting of the series. Overall this is a solid album, which I'm sure all of you Libaek fans will enjoy.

Year of Release: 1972
Label: Festival Records
Catalog #: FL 34660
Genres: Television Soundtrack, Library Music, Jazz
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
A1. Boney Title Music
A2. Boney Theme
A3. Love Theme
A4. Action Theme
A5. Murder In The Outback
A6. City Lights
B1. Outback Theme
B2. The Fight
B3. Wild Formations
B4. Relief
B5. Boney Theme

Download: Sven Libaek - Boney
Download Size: 51MB

Sven Libaek - Nickel Queen

"Nickel Queen" was an Australian comedy film released in 1971. The plot revolves around an outback pub owner who finds herself an overnight millionaire after staking a claim during the "nickel boom" of the late 1960s. For those interested, I actually stumbled across this site, where you can watch the entire film online (you need to download the divx webplayer plugin if you don't have it). The music consists of light, upbeat jazz, which many people would categorize as lounge music. One thing that makes this album unique among Sven Libaek albums is the inclusion of a several vocal tracks, making this his most vocally oriented release. The vocals come courtesy of session singers Kerrie Biddell and Terry Kaff. The inclusion of the didjeridu at the onset of the album, and sitar in "Go Anywhere", which are two instruments that I find very captivating, were a nice added touch. The upbeat, poppy percussion work that can be heard throughtout would have to be the highlight of this album for me. While I'm a big fan of Sven Libaek's work, and I can appreciate the beauty of the arrangements, I have to say that overall this album really isn't my cup of tea. While I generally prefer not to share albums that I don't thoroughly enjoy, I felt as if it was important to share this for the reasons listed above.

Year of Release: 1973
Label: Philips
Catalog #: NA
Genres: Soundtrack, Library Music, Jazz
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
A1. Look (Every Day)
A2. Take Without Giving
A3. Jenny Blake
A4. Go Anywhere
A5. News From The Exchange
A6. Park Scene (Look, Every Day)
B1. Go Anywhere
B2. Go Anywhere (Instrumental)
B3. Spinifex Hill (Look, Every Day)
B4. Meg's Shopping Spree (Take Without Giving)
B5. Mrs. Benson
B6. The Fall Of Benson Mining
B7. Look (Every Day)

Download: Sven Libaek - Nickel Queen
Download Size: 66MB

WFMU's Beware of the Blog

I would like to thank Doug Schulkind for featuring Digital Meltd0wn on WFMU's Beware of the Blog. While checking my traffic statistics this morning I noticed a dramatic increase in visitors to the blog. I was surprised to discover that several hundred of them were coming from a post on WFMU's Beware of the Blog. If you're familiar with WFMU then you will know how much of an honor it is to make an appearance on their site in any form or fashion. Doug Schulkind writes a weekly feature on WFMU's Beware of the Blog entitled "Mining the Audio Motherload, in which he regularly shares amazing obscure albums from a variety of blogs. Doug chose my recent post of Black Merda's self-titled album for Mining the Audio Motherload Vol. 92, which can be found here: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/11/mining-the-audio-motherlode-volume-92.html. While being featured there doesn't particularly make me or this blog special, as I'm sure the Mutant Sounds blog probably appears there every other week, it does mean something to me. I've been a long time fan of WFMU, and it's a real honor to see DM featured there in any form. So thank you Doug for helping me fulfill one of my goals as a blogger. Here the links to WFMU and the Mining The Audio Motherload archives:

WFMU Homepage: http://wfmu.org

WFMU's Beware of the Blog: http://blog.wfmu.org

Mining the Audio Motherload Archives: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/mining-the-audio-motherlode/

Roger Roger - Sounds Industrial (L'Illustration Musicale - IM 25) (1976 - 320kbps)

Despite possessing a rather large library music collection, I have neglected to share many albums here for one reason or another. During the next two weeks I plan to share a few of my favorite library music albums, better known to some people as production music. If you are unfamiliar with library music then you should check out this Wikipedia article, which provides a decent overview of the genre. In the coming weeks you can expect to see a mixture of albums that any library music enthusiast will be familiar with, along with a few very rare and obscure albums, which hopefully haven't already been posted elsewhere.

First up we Roger Roger's Sounds Industrial (IM 25), which was released on vinyl in 1976 by the L'Illustration Musicale library label. Although Roger Roger happens to be one of my favorite library music composers, I had intended to share a more accessible album here first. The other album I was uploading canceled due to an error, so I just decided to run with it. Roger Roger was a French composer who was born in 1911 and died in 1995. As strange as it seems, his real name was actually Roger Roger. He also released several albums using the aliases Cecil Leuter, which he primarily used for his electronic output, and Eric Swan. Roger Roger was one of the most prolific of all the library music composers during his career, having composed music for dozens of production libraries, television shows and radio. He is well known among library music enthusiasts, although because he preferred to compose music for the more obscure library labels, he never achieved the recognition that many prolific film score composers do. He released albums on several different labels, although is best remembered for the work he did for the Mood Music series on the Chappell label. He was also one of the earliest composers to use the Moog synthesizer, releasing Pop Electronique in 1969, only five years after Bob Moog released his first synthesizer. While his early electronic output tends to be his most popular work, he dabbled in a diverse range of styles, including jazz, classical, psychedelic, experimental and exotica.

Sounds Industrial is one of Roger Roger's earliest albums of electronic music. One thing I love about many library music LPs is that you get the opportunity to hear classicaly trained musicians have fun and experiment, and I get the feeling that Roger Roger was doing just that with this album. At the core of this album is some excellent minimalistic synthesizer music. While each track is short, often averaging roughly a minute each, Roger Roger is able to create very dynamic pieces of music within a very short period of time. What I love about this album is the way each track progressively builds in complexity and atmosphere, yet manages to retain a certain level of simplicity. Most of tracks begin with a very sparse minimalist sound, usually just a simply synth melody, or perhaps a bleep here and a blip there. Then various instruments, sound effects and textured ambient sounds are incorporated one by one, and each track takes a life of its own as it becomes progressively more complex.

I can see this appealing to a variety of people,especially those of you who enjoy experimental, minimal synth, ambient, space-age pop, early electronic music, or just electronic music in general. Hopefully this will serve as an introduction to both library music, as well as Roger Roger, for a few of you. As I mentioned before, you can expect to see more of his albums here on DM in the near future, including those he released under his aliases.

Year of Release: 1976
Label: L'Illustration Musicale
Genres: Library Music, Early Electronic, Experimental
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
01. Sounds Industrial N°1
02. Sounds Industrial N°2
03. Sounds Industrial N°3
04. Sounds Industrial N°4
05. Sounds Industrial N°5
06. Sounds Industrial N°6
07. Sounds Industrial N°7
08. Sounds Industrial N°8
09. Sounds Industrial N°9
10. Sounds Industrial N°10
11. Sounds Industrial N°11
12. Sounds Industrial N°12
13. Sounds Industrial N°13
14. Sounds Industrial N°14
15. Sounds Industrial N°15
16. Sounds Industrial N°16

Download: Roger Roger - Sounds Industrial (L'Illustration Musicale - IM 25)
Download Size: 59MB

16 Horsepower - Live In Berlin (9/03/1996)

16 Horsepower is the group I recommend to those who say that they despise country music. They were one of the greatest groups to emerge from the alternative country, also commonly referred to as alt-country, scene during the '90s. This isn't your stereotypical radio-friendly country music, and for those of you who avoid the genre like the plague, you might very well find yourself saying "I despise most country music" once you've had the opportunity to hear 16 Horsepower and their counterparts. There isn't much information to be found on the internet for the download provided below, although if anyone has info regarding this recording please share it in the comments section. I downloaded this album, along with a few other 16 Horsepower bootlegs, from an individual on Soulseek years ago. I properly tagged all of the tracks, and created the album cover you see above. What I can tell you about this is that it is a bootleg recording of a live performance by 16 Horsepower in front of a small crowd in Berlin Germany on September 3rd, 2006. The group performed a number of songs from both their self-titled EP, as well as their first full-length album, Sack Cloth 'n Ashes, which was released in February earlier that year. While this is no soundboard recording, it is perfectly listenable for a bootleg recording, and captures 16 Horsepower during a time when they were at their creative peak.


16 Horsepower's unique musical style was the result of a fusion of heavy rock with more traditional genres that originated from the South, such as folk, country and bluegrass. They seemlessly wove all of these these influences together with a dark, modern twist, creating a sound that was remarkably unique and refreshing. The group utilized a wide variety of musical instruments, regularly making use of acoustic, electric and steel guitars, upright and flat top bass, accordians, banjos, fiddles, cellos, violins, pianos, organs and keyboards.

The group's lyrics and subject matter often complex religious matters, particularly conflict and redemption. This can be attributed to Edwards' upbringing as the grandson of a traveling Nazarene preacher, which would later influence the creation of his brand of fire and brimstone rock. Despite the group's country and folk roots, they considered themselves to be a rock band first and Among others, they regularly cited Joy Division, The Gun Club, Nick Cave and The Birthday Party as their primary influences. They would eventually cover The Gun Club's "Fire Spirit" on their 1998 EP, The Partisan, and tour with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in 2004.

In 2005 the group split apart due to personal differences, with some of the members moving on to focus full-time on the side-projects that they had formed prior to the group's split. Lead singer David Eugene Edwards would turn his attention to Wovenhand, a group he formed along with bassist Pascal Humbert while 16 Horsepower was taking a temporary hiatus in 2001. While Humbert would continue to play for Woven Hand after 16 Horsepower disbanded, he primarily focused on his own band, Lilium.

Year of Release: 1996
Label: N/A (Bootleg Release)
Recording Date: September 3rd, 1996
Genres: Alternative Country, Folk, Bluegrass
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
01. Low Estate
02. American Wheeze
03. Shametown
04. Black Soul Choir
05. Horse Head
06. South Pennsylvania Waltz
07. Phyllis Ruth
08. Ruthie Lingle
09. Harm's Way
10. Pure Clob Road
11. Black Bush
12. I Seen What I Saw
13. Heel On The Shovel
14. Haw
15. Coal Black Horses
16. Prison Shoe Romp
17. Neck On The New Blade
18. Dead Run
19. Strong Man

Download: 16 Horsepower - Live In Berlin (9-03-1996)
Download Size: 117MB

Born Bad Volumes 7 & 8

This is a continuation of my previous post in which I posted Born Bad Volumes 1 through 6, which can be found posted here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2007/04/born-bad-compilation-series-collects.html I'm on break from school, and I have to go to work as soon as I get out, so I'm going to keep this post short. Many years after the original Born Bad compilation series was released, an individual released a couple of bootlegs, Born Bad Volumes 7 & 8. For the most part the music contained within these volumes is in the same vein as the rest of the series. One noticeable difference is the absence of songs which would eventually be covered by The Cramps, which were heavily featured throughout the first six volumes. Another minor difference is that both volumes contain 16 tracks, while the original six volumes contained 14 tracks each. Aside from these differences these bootleg volumes integrate well with the first six volumes, and one can listen to them all seamlessly. Below you will find an excerpt from my previous post, which covers some of the general info about the first six volumes:

In 1986 the first of a series of compilations entitled "Born Bad" introduced listeners to a number of bands that greatly influenced the rockabilly and psychobilly bands in the decades that followed. Perhaps the most important band to emerge was The Cramps, a band that I have featured here on DM many times in the past. The Cramps helped to usher in a new wave of rockabilly acts across the world, and inadvertently created a new genre in the process. They combined the sound and style of the early country, rockabilly and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s with the newly emerging punk rock attitude and style of the late '70s. Their unique approach was labeled as "Psychobilly", and thus a genre was born.

The Born Bad series collects together the original music that inspired bands such as The Cramps. The six original volumes contain 84 tracks, with each volume in the series containing 14 tracks. The first volume is often listed as "Volume One: Songs The Cramps Taught Us", not to be confused with the bootleg release of the same name, which can be found here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2007/12/various-artists-songs-cramps-taught-us.html A sticker was included on the vinyl release of the first volume that read "Songs The Cramps Taught Us", although it would not be included on any of the volumes that followed. For those of you who are interested in listening to the early rockabilly, country, rock 'n' roll and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s that inspired The Cramps, it gets no better than this compilation. Those of you who are familiar with The Cramps will recognize these songs, as the band sought to pay tribute to the artists that inspired them by performing their own cover versions to many of the songs contained in the Born Bad series.

Born Bad Volume 7

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 220VBR
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Ric Cartey - Oo Wee Baby
2. Johnny Fortune - Dragster
3. The Blues Rockers - Calling All Cows
4. Roy Brown - Buther Pete Part 1
5. Larry Phillipson - Bitter Feelings
6. Terry Dunavan - Earthquake Boogie
7. The Shells - Whiplash
8. The Fanatics - I Will Not Be Lonely
9. The Wailers - Hang Up
10. Junior Thompson - How Come You Do Me
11. The Rhythm Rockers - Madness
12. Kit & the Outlaws - Don't Tread On Me
13. Charlie Feathers - One Hand Loose
14. The Embers - I Walked All Night
15. Gene Summers - Taboo
16. Link Wray - Rumble

Download: Born Bad Vol. 7
Download Size: 51MB

Born Bad Volume 8

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Sheriff & the Ravels - Shombolar
2. Bo Diddley - Dancing Girl
3. Walter Brown - Jelly Roll Rock
4. Keith Courvale - Trapped Love
5. Hayden Thompson - Blues, Blues, Blues
6. Lightnin' Slim - It's Mighty Crazy
7. Roy Brown - Butcher Pete, Part 2
8. Danny Dell - Froggy Went A Courting
9. Fender Four - Margaya
10. Elvis Presley - Do The Clam
11. Slim Harpo - Strange Love
12. Randy Alvey - Green Fuzz
13. Captain Beefheart - Hard Working Man
14. Sonny Burgess - Red Headed Woman
15. Don & the Galaxies - Sundown (Instrumental)
16. The Revels - Intoxica

Download: Born Bad Vol. 8
Download Size: 54MB

Blo - Chapter One

By Request, this post was re-uploaded 01/17/2015. NØ

Blo (aka BLO) were an early 70's African band that fused the Afrobeat rhythms of their native Nigeria with the mind-expanding psychedelia and funk of late 60's rock from the Western world. The three members, Berkely Jones, Laolu Akintobi and Mike Odumosu created the name BLO from B for Berkely, L for Laolu and O for Odumosu. Their debut record, Chapter One, is considered by many to be one of the most sought after albums from Africa. While it isn't nearly as funky as their following albums, it still stands as one of the best psych-funk albums to ever come out of Africa.

Chapter One walks the line between rock, funk and psychedelia. Perhaps the most obvious reward in listening to this album is the great guitar work featured prominently throughout the length of the album. At times it is straight forward and driving, yet most of the time it has an "out of this world" psychedelic sound to it. On the instrumental track, "Miss Sagitt", it even sounds Arabic towards the latter half of the track. The bass and drums are fantastic also, but most of the “African beat" was reduced to traces because they were in fact completely absorbed into the heavy rock drive. As for the vocals, they are sparse throughout, and the majority of these tracks would be instrumentals were it not for the occasional vocal outburst. The group would change direction after this album after being pressured by their label to make a more funk dominated record.

Year of Release: 1972
Label: EMI
Genre: Afrobeat, Funk, Psychedelic
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. Preacher Man
2. Time to Face the Sun
3. Beware
4. We Gonna Have a Party
5. Don't
6. Chant to Mother Earth
7. We are out Together
8. Miss Sagitt (Instrumental)

Download: BLO - Chapter One
Download Size: 74.8 MB

Post-Halloween Countdown 2010 Report

Halloween is officially over, bringing an end to this year's Halloween Countdown 2010 event. I wanted to dedicate a post to comment on on the Countdown, thank a few individuals and make a few important announcements regarding my future plans for the blog.

This year's Halloween Countdown was a success in many different ways. First of all I would like to say that I had a blast being able to share so many horror-inspired downloads with you all, and having the chance to talk to many of you who share a common interest. First of all I would like to thank my girlfriend for being unselfish enough to provide me with the time to share all sorts of horrifying things with you all during the Countdown. I would also like to personally thank NØ, wcme and especially Strange Ranger for their contributions to the blog during the Countdown. In case you missed it both wcme and Strange Ranger shared a number of amazing horror soundtracks in the Halloween Countdown Request Thread, which you can find here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-countdown-request-thread.html

We managed to put up 49 posts during the month of October, which eclipsed our previous high of 43 posts in one month. The previous high just so happened to occur during the Halloween Countdown 2008 event. We also passed the 600th post mark last week, an accomplishment that I'm very proud of. We managed to lure in 24,875 unique visitors during the month of October, including 1,118 unique visitors on Halloween day. This is a significant increase in visitors in comparison with the traffic from previous months. I haven't had the time to put up such a large number of posts since I started college last October. NØ deserves full credit for making the majority of the posts during the last year. Fortunately I just so happen to be in the easiest course at my college at the moment, which provided me with the opportunity to go crazy with the blog for a few weeks.

I also wanted to let you know that I am planning an event similar to the Halloween Countdown for December. Unless I come up with a more fitting name between now and then, I'm going to go with "Digital Meltd0wn's Nightmare Before Christmas". I know it isn't terribly original, or at all for that matter, but considering what I have planned I can't think of a more fitting name. Basically we are going to do a similar countdown to Christmas, in which I plan to post all of the horror-inspired material that I didn't have time to post for this year's Halloween Countdown. You can expect an orgy of blasphemy here on Digital Meltd0wn throughout the month December. I hope to bring aboard a few guest-bloggers for the event, consisting of admins from blogs which tend to focus on the dark side of things, who will bring with them an expert level of knowledge regarding all things horror.

One last announcement and then I will put this post out of its misery. There are several of you who frequent this blog due to my Lovecraft-related posts. I wanted to inform you all that I will be making a major announcement on this blog in November which should excite all of you. I wish that I could announce it now, but I still need to iron out a few wrinkles before I can make a final announcement. Keep an eye out here for more details in the weeks to come.

During the month of November I plan to work on re-uploads, share a few of the albums that I didn't have time to post during "Sci-Fi September", and share music from a few independent artists and labels. Once again I would like to thank both contributors and visitors alike for helping to make Halloween Countdown 2010 such a kick-ass event. I look forward to sharing many more similarly horrifying posts with all of you in December.