Welcome

elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

DJ Chaos X - Live Mixxx (2006)



Sunday, July 25, 2010

Dinah Washington - September in the Rain


Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Shortly thereafter her family moved to Chicago, the city she always called home. Although her first recording was “Evil Gal Blues” & although she will always be known as the”Queen of the Blues”, Dinah always objected to that sobriquet. She always felt her singing was more jazz-infused gospel.

She was never an obedient servant to the written structure of a song, always breaking through the mechanical quality of its contours, altering the melody & meter - melodically, rhythmically, & emotionally - to make it more than it began & truly her own. Quincy Jones vividly describes Washington's style, saying she "could take the melody in her hand, hold it like an egg, crack it open, fry it, let it sizzle, reconstruct it, put the egg back in the box, back in the refrigerator & you would've still understood every single syllable."

But the singer's musical gifts went hand in hand with her wild & extravagant personal life, fueled in part by her own deep-rooted insecurity. Married seven times, Washington battled with her weight for years, She heavily used numerous prescription medications, primarily for dieting & insomnia. Even though she sings “I don’t need clothes or furs," in “As Long as I’m in Your Arms", she burned through her recording profits buying shoes, furs & automobiles in an effort to lift her spirits.

On the morning of December 14, 1963, Dinah's eighth husband, Dick "Night Train" Lane, famed defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals & Detroit Lions found Dinah non-responsive. She was later pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy showed a lethal combination of secobarbital & amobarbital had contributed to her untimely death at the age of 39. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose.

Tracks 1, 10, 11, & 12 were recorded in late 1960 in New York City with an unidentified orchestra. Fred Norman conducted track 10 on Oct. 5-7 & was replaced on tracks 1, 11, & 12 by Nat Goodman on Nov. 12. The rest of the tracks were recorded in Hollywood, CA in January 1961 with Belford Hendricks (who arranged all the songs) conducting & featured: Dinah on vocals; Rone Hall & Barney Kessel on guitars; Red Callender & Jimmy Rowser on bass; Ernie Freeman & Joe Zawinul on piano; & Earl Palmer on drums.

Year of Release: 1961
Label: Mercury Records MG 20638
Genre: Vocals

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
September in the Rain
Without a Song
This Heart of Mine
As Long as I’m in Your Arms
With a Song in My Heart
Softly
Side 2 -
I Can’t Believe that You’re in Love with Me
I Was Telling Him about You
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
I’ll Never Kiss You Goodbye
I’ll Come Back for More
Tell Love Hello

Download: Dinah Washington - September in the Rain
Download Size: 71.2MB (ripped from nearly 50 year old vinyl at 320Kbps)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

X-Legged Sally - Slow-Up


Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Digital Meltd0wn Now On Facebook



Survive-All Fallout Shelters - Radio Ads from the 1950's


Saturday, July 17, 2010

Plan 9 From Outer Space Soundtrack (Retrosonic Records)


Friday, July 16, 2010

Idiot Flesh - Tales Of Instant Knowledge And Sure Death


Idiot Flesh was a band formed in Oakland, CA in 1985 under the name Acid Rain. They made their debut with the demo album "We Were All Very Worried" which was released on tape only in 1987. They changed their name to Idiot Flesh prior to the release of their first album.

Their first album entitled "Tales of Instant Knowledge and Sure Death" came out in 1990, three years after their impressive demo cassette which didn't featured that really elfish atmosphere which was present in their 1990 release. The lyrical and musical world of Idiot Flesh is truly an absurd and playful panorama of the theatres and circuses. These jugglers really knew how to entertain the abstract senses of the abstract public. During concerts they were giving puppet and pantomime shows beside acrobatic attractions as well. They also played on various strange instruments (castanets, marimba,..) including household items like trash cans, saws, etc. The album is a catchy avant-garde rock masterpiece with morphing bass vibrancies, funky guitar rhythms and the harmony of classical instruments. The atmosphere of the album is full of musical gags and playful melodies often resulting in comical pictures.

After the group disbanded in 1998, the members of Idiot Flesh would go on to work on solo projects or join other bands, most notably Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Year of Release: 1990
Label: Vaccination Records
Genre: Experimental/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Bitrate: 192kbps

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Back From Vacation


Thursday, July 01, 2010

Vacation Time


I will be flying home back home to Tennessee very shortly to visit my family and friends for the next 10 days. I had planned to leave you all with a surprise, but I have to leave a day earlier than I originally anticipated so I don't have time to post the surprise now. I plan to take my portable harddrive, which has a ton of music on it, but I don't know if I will be making any posts or not. NØ has been going through some hard times lately, so I'm not sure how much he will be able to post during my absence. Sab should be back from her own vacation shortly, so perhaps she may treat you all to some music from her collection. When I return I will be making a long overdue announcement involving an upcoming project for this blog. It will be the most significant project that has ever been posted on DM, and I'm not sure if anyone has ever attempted anything like this within the music blog world. I know you all will love it, and I can't wait to share it with you. In the meantime, if my companions are not able to update this blog, I would like to remind you all that I run the Digital Meltd0wn Music Aggregator/Blogroll @ http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com where you can find thousands of great music blogs of every type. I'll see you all shortly. Take care.