The The Orb

Gary Numan is known for robotic, stylized singing. His primitive electronics and pre-"new romantic" sound did nothing for me. A myriad, zealous voices will tell you that Numan was sings "good songs." Now, in this 2-CD collection of Numan interpretations you can hear those good songs without Numan's idiosyncratic delivery. The known and the unknown join to make proto-dance music out of mechanical master's material. Matt Sharp (Weezer) and Damon Albarn (Blur) cover "We Have a Technical." Also on the compilation are Gravity Kills, EMF, The Magnetic Fields, Jesus Jones, the out-of-place hip hop group Underdog (but, there's only one of them), Sukia, The Orb, Pop Will Eat Itself. One of my favorite cuts is "Metal" by Towering Inferno. Brian Eno described their Kaddish album as "frightening" and they are here joined by Eddie Reader. I also am very fond of the two versions of "Are 'Friends' Electric?" Techno rockers Republicaare joined by Numan himself for one version and Belgian discovery An Pierle offers another.

Moon Riders - Best
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 365 MB | Full Artwork: 44 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Crown Records # ZL-5011 | Country/Year: Japan 1989
Genre: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronica | Style: New Wave, Experimental

"Debuted in 1976 as “Keiichi Suzuki with Moonriders” with the album Hinotama Boy (“Fireball Boy”). Moonriders was formed as a band in which all 6 members were also both songwriters and producers. Constantly incorporating new sound and technology, they produce cutting-edge new works. Their various experimental directions during live performance have also had a great influence on others. In 2005, they launched their own label, Moonriders Records, which continues to release new musical works."

It's difficult to believe that it's been five long years since Voivod released their last studio album, 2013's solid Target Earth. That record put to rest rumours that the Montreal outfit was about to give up the ghost after three decades and some startling losses: Fomr the death of founding guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour in 2005 to the departure of original bassist Jean-Yves Theriault in 2014 to pursue his own project, Coeur Atomique. The quality taste the band gave us on the five track Post Society EP of 2016 whet the appetite for this date. (It and a handful of live cuts are included on a bonus disk.)

Virgin's fourth Ambient volume is the first of all-new material from contemporary artists, and it provides the most highlights of any in the series. Tracks from a score of crucial new-ambient producers, including Aphex Twin, Seefeel, O'Rang, EAR, Main, Final, Lull, Labradford, Techno Animal, Scorn and Paul Schütze. Seeing as each track is available only on this collection, it became the hardest-to-find of the entire series soon after its release.