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Debut album from Troubleman a.k.a. Mark Pritchard to be released August 17 on Far Out Recordings.

By Anonymous

August 4, 2004 -- Far Out finally release the eagerly-awaited Troubleman album by Mark Pritchard this August, as part of their 10th birthday celebrations. Mark is one of the UK’s most respected electronic producers of the last 15 years thanks to a prolific set of recordings under various names and for different labels. We’ve been itching to share this LP since the stunning singles ‘Strikehard’ and ‘Change Is What We Need (Progress)’ set dancefloors on fire in the summers of 02 and 03 respectively.

The album’s a mix of Brazilian Bossa, party breaks, soul and funk, featuring already familiar club hits and guest vocalists from the top drawer, including Nina Miranda (Smoke City and Da Lata), Eska (New Sector Movements) and Steve Spacek. It would be unfair to pick highlights from a line-up like this, but here are a few notables…

A couple of tracks featuring the laidback vocals of Nina Miranda - the singer already feted for her work with Smoke City and Da Lata: ‘Paz’, an easy listening-influenced 60s-style bossa, and ‘Toda Hora’, a big party tune that’s already a fave with Gilles Peterson.

Steve Spacek contributes a typically ethereal vocal to ‘Without You’ (a track you’ll definitely be hearing more about), and Eska brings her tough nu-street soul style to a live jam featuring legendary pianist Pino Palladio in ‘Roll On’. ‘The Righteous Path’ is an Axelrod-esque gem Mark describes as “hippy soul”, while the title track ‘Time... Out of Mind’ is a monster Underground-Resistance style techno track with a deep groove… and not forgetting the two Troubleman singles that have already caused the stir: ‘Strikehard’: 2002’s Fela Kuti-inspired afro banger, and ‘Change Is What We Need (Progress)’, last year’s big club hit.

Mark’s a Devon boy about to break through into the premier league of producers with this release – his classic recordings are familiar even if his many pseudonyms have meant that often he hasn’t got the acclaim his distinguished past deserves. He was formerly in seminal 90s electronic acts Global Communication and the Jedi Knights (with Tom Middleton) and has remixed the likes of Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey, Underworld, Aphex Twin, Lamb, KRS 1, A Tribe Called Quest, the Orb and The Beloved. The Troubleman LP is the work of a man on top of his game with all Mark’s influences coming together in a truly remarkable concoction – from his West Country roots with Tom Middleton and Aphex Twin, to collaborations with Brazilian legends Azymuth, to his latest incarnation (as hip-hop superstar) in Harmonic 33.

Mark Pritchard Biography:

Mark’s recorded under so many monikers that keeping a track on his productions is difficult unless you’re a die-hard Pritchard fan (and believe us from the emails we get there’s a lot of them out there!) so this highly-respected producer’s career certainly deserves a bit of a run-down…

In 1991 Mark formed seminal techno label Evolution, on which he released a series of sought-after Detroit-influenced techno singles, reflecting his early love of the Motor City sound. The 'A Collection of Short Stories’ album is released on the Creation label in 1993, after several releases on Evolution under the Reload alias. (In 1996, Warp released a compilation of the tracks Mark did for Evolution entitled ‘The Theory of Evolution’.) In the company of Tom Middleton, Mark forms the now-legendary ambient-house outfit Global Communication and releases two albums in 1994 - ‘Pentamorous Metamorphosis’ (a remix album of feted UK indie band Chapterhouse’s album), followed by ’76:14’, Global’s debut album. Both were released on Dedicated/BMG and considered by many as the blueprint for the 90s ambient-electronic movement. The second ‘proper’ Global LP was ’Remotion’, a collection of original material and remixes – released in 1995.

In 1996 Mark and Tom take a new direction and a new name, and release the ‘New School Science’ album as the Jedi Knights: “we decided to bring back the funk into dance music” says Mark. Welding electro into 4/4 house and breaks it was loved by DJs across both genres and initiated an electro breaks revival that continues today.
A brief diversion into drum’n’bass brought about Link’s ‘Chameleon’ in 1996 – a “bit of an anthem” at Fabio’s legendary Speed night.

In 1998 he produced the debut album from Kirsty Hawkshaw (formerly of rave act Opus 3), for East West records.

Between 1999-2000 Mark collaborated on a project with ex-Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills – the results will finally see the light of day this year. Mark has already toured the album with Crispian and Portishead’s drummer Clive Deamer, supporting Robbie Williams. “The weirdest thing I’ve ever done”, says Mark.

Mark began the Troubleman project for Far Out in 2000 following some successful remixes he did of Azymuth’s tracks - as Global Communication with Tom Middleton for the track ‘Jazz Carnival’ (1995), and then later solo remixes of ‘Carambola’ (1999), and ‘Pieces Of Ipanema’ (2000). All three are among Far Out’s biggest-selling 12”s. His first 12” as Troubleman (‘Messenger/The Essence’) was released in 2000, followed in 2001 with ‘Where We Stand/Lullaby’, and then the massive underground hit, ‘Strike Hard’ that firmly established the Troubleman name. 2003 saw the release of the even bigger follow-up ‘Change Is What We Need (Progress)’. Now one year later we finally have the Troubleman debut album. Mark fills us in: “It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make, an album of songs with vocals. I’ve never spent so long on an album and I think it shows. This is not a club album, it’s all 4/5 minute songs with live musicians on all the tracks, it’s a journey.” It’s Mark’s ability to weld his unique music tastes together that makes him one of the most interesting and innovative producers of the moment. ‘Time Out of Mind’ sees Mark at the peak of his powers, with a landscape of different genres and influences all mixed together with the virtuosity he’s become renowned for – this is rightly one of the most eagerly-awaited debut albums of the year.

‘One of THE albums of the year… this is just so good’
GILLES PETERSON

‘Mark makes the phattest beats ever’
KENNY DOPE (MASTERS AT WORK)

‘Can't stop listening to it... fave record of the year 2 me... this is incredible!’
JAZZY JEFF




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Ideao Technologies Announces One of a Kind 128MB Wireless MP3 Headset Player

By Anonymous

Irvine, CA—January 5, 2003—Ideao Technologies, a leading developer and manufacturer of innovative portable digital audio players and multifunction personal devices, today announced the availability of its new 128MB wireless MP3 headset player the WF-200.

The WF-200 is an MP3 player that is built right into a neckband high quality audio headset. The WF-200 comes with 64MB or 128MB flash memory built in. It is true wire-free and does not need an FM transmitter. Now music lovers with active lifestyles can work or play while enjoying their favorite music without ever being tangled by those annoying wires! Perfect for a morning jog, treadmill or bike workout in the gym, strolling along the beach, or a shopping trip in the mall......                   

The WF-200 not only sounds great and offers wire-free convenience, it is also extremely easy to use. The software bundled with the player lets users download and arrange the order of the songs easily by drag/drop and point/click.

The WF-200 is one of a kind in the market. Ideao will be showing the WF-200 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at Las Vegas from January 9 to January 12, 2003 at Booth 31181 in the MP3 and Internet Audio Pavilion. Ideao will be giving away free samples of the WF-200 at the CES 2003 by random drawing.

Availability of the WF-200 Wireless MP3 Player

The WF-200 with 64MB and 128MB capacity will be available for retail at $119.99 and $159.99, respectively.

About Ideao Technologies

Ideao Technologies is a leading developer and manufacturer of innovative portable digital audio players and multifunction personal devices with design and manufacturing facilities based in Korea and China. Ideao Technologies is a division of 7Heads Inc. For more information about Ideao and a complete listing of its product offering, please visit www.ideao.com.



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DSS DJ 5.0 released - professional mp3 beat-mixing software

By Anonymous

July 8, 2004 -- DSS DJ 5.1 is released. This new version brings OGG Vorbis support (OGG is an MP3-like file format with a slightly better quality). The beat-display shows more audio time (you can view more beats at a time) and the "Export List to HTML" can now export only the columns that you want. ID3v4 mp3 tag support was added and several bugs were fixed.

If you already bought DSS DJ, just click the download link and install the new version without uninstalling the old one to keep all your settings and lists.

DSS DJ Main Features:

automatic one-click BEAT MATCHING and synchronization
advanced songs manager with cases (categories) for song database. You don't have to carry your bag with CDs or Vinyls, all your music is on your hard drive.
Browsable and sortable song database
Fast search engine supporting sub strings
Drag'n'drop between cases and for decks loading
Enhanced playlist management and track marking options
Song pre-listening before loading
Played songs history
Oversampling and advanced interpolation for professional sound quality
Userless auto-DJ mode with beat-matching
Live recording of your mix into WAVE files (to make your own CDs)

Effects:

Download plugin effect(s) for DSS DJ. All effects are in ZIP format (archive).

After you download an effect you have to unzip it and copy the resulting .dll file in the "Effects" folder of DSS DJ (usually C:Program FilesMyXOFTDSS DJeffects).

In DSS DJ click load effect and select the desired effect.

Effect name and description Author Size Download
- chorus
- classic flanger
- ducking
- phaser
- beatwaw included in DSS DJ setup
- crying flanger included in DSS DJ setup
- tremolo included in DSS DJ setup

Problems / errors:

What can I do if the sound is not hearing well (stutter, pops, clicks, skips) ?
Try to set a higher latency by increasing buffer number and size from
MENU->CONFIGURATION->AUDIO OUTPUT->STEP 2 and press OK. Try this gradually. Click here and follow the instructions for Windows best performance configuration.
After all this if the sound is still not hearing well, then probably it is something wrong with your soundcard or Windows.

I have a 3D soundcard (front and rear outputs). Can I use one output for speakers and the other one for headphones?
Yes. Click the MENU button located in the center of the DSS DJ interface. Select the Configuration option and in the Audio Output tab check the Multichannel soundcard checkbox. You will have on front, the master stereo output and on rear, the monitor (headphones) output.

http://www.xkee.com/audio-mp3/dss-dj/




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