Drunken Monkey: Orquestrations for a Strange World Vol. 1 & 2
Splintered Tree Records

This double-CD is a slightly older release from Drunken Monkey (as he visited in December '08 and gave me several releases). This release, however, should be taken in as a complete symphony rather than an album of separate tracks. Each track flows into another in this 2-hour electro-trip. It's mostly electro & breaks (his signature), and some forays into other genres like trip/hip-hop & exotic sounds. All very innovative and very interesting when experienced as a whole. My favorite has got to be #8 on CD 1, but play & enjoy.

CD #1: Try: 2,5,6,7,8,9
1. Synth intro - a bit new-age/sci-fi
2. Slammin' breaks goodness w/ spacecraft radio communications
3. Spoken snippets, warbly synths, beat picks up & gets rapid towards end
4. Far-out electro meandering, gets into some beat crunchiness in the middle
5. Spacey exotica, spoken dialogue samples, snappy beats, warm
6. Kraftwerkian beat textures. A simple smooth soft synth wash.
7. Quasi-industrial. Harsh & crunchy - and awesome.
8. A Western-esque guitar wank and the grindy-est bass tones ever
9. Lush synths and gentle breakbeats, with dialogue samples in Hebrew (?)

NOTE: CD #2 descriptions are on back.

CD #2: Try: 3,4,6,9
1. A little intro - Breakbeats increasing in thumpy-ness
2. Sparse trip-hop. Slow downtempo bass-beats w/ electro-analog warblings.
3. Loosely patterned drum & bass. Synth flutters & twitters.
4. Spacey trip-hop w/ catchy little melody & fem vocal accents
5. Tripped-out hip-hop w/ chill tempo & relaxed rhyme
6. Jazz meets electronic wonkyness - strange but cool
7. Sparse and loose dub tempo w/ occasional spacey synths
8. Driving beats, wailing vocal, insistent synths & bass
9. 1st half - has a goofy yet catchy vibe with some smack-y breaks; 2nd half is a soft folky guitar ballad

FYI: Drunken Monkey was my guest on KZSU back in December '08 and gave us his discography on CD. He is a talented local DJ/producer whose tastes range from breaks, electro, house, trip-hop, drum & bass, world music, rock, and more. It's rare that I get a guest with the diversity & range that he has. So please explore his material and enjoy!