Thievery Corporation - The Richest Man In Babylon (2002) [Reuploaded Link]

Date Released: September 17, 2002
Origin: United States
Genre: Trip-Hop, Chillout, Acid Jazz, Downtempo, Dub, Lounge
Label: ESL Music, Inc / Eighteenth Street
Site: http://thieverycorporation.com
Tracklist:
1. Heaven’s Gonna Burn Your Eyes
2. Facing East
3. The Outernationalist
4. Omid (Hope)
5. All That we Perceive
6. Un Simple Histoire (A Simple Story)
7. Meu Destino (My Destiny)
8. Exilio (Exile)
9. From Creation
10. The Richest Man In Babylon
11. Liberation Front
12. The State Of The Union
13. Until The Morning
14. Resolution

Download Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/245533802/Thievery_Corporation_-_The_Richest_Man_In_Babylon.rar

Susumu Yokota - Sound Of Sky (2002)

Date Released: January 30, 2002
Origin: Japan
Genre: Ambient, Downtempo, Lounge, Jazz

Label: Universal/Polygram
Site: http://www.susumuyokota.org/
Tracklist:
1. Sea Blue
2. Nothing Time
3. Three Ripple
4. Crash Marble
5. Wind Wave
6. Sky Blue
7. King Of Darkness
8. Form An Idea
9. Right To Be Free
10. Make Peace
11. Sky And Diamond
__________________________________________________
Sound of Sky is filled with deep and jazzy house music. Japanese producer Yokota's album takes breakbeats and regular house beats and combines them with trumpet, vibes, bells and a few subtle vocals to create a very relaxing album. The opening track, "Nothing Time," is a great fusion of trumpet and breakbeats that proceeds at a mid-paced tempo. "Sky Blue" takes the voices of children and meshes them with crisp house beats, while "Crash Marble" bears an odd rhythmic resemblance to the Clash's "Rock the Casbah." Yokota has been producing music for many years, from techno to house to more experimental sounds, which can easily be heard in the piano work on "King of Darkness," and in the occasionally eerie synth sounds of the other tracks. As deep house goes, this is good material; he varies the tempo and the sounds he uses but still holds it together as a coherent album. It's also a very relaxing release that's easy to listen to at home. (Exceptional)

Review taken from:

http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=38&csid2=848&fid1=12177
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/164071251/Susumu_Yokota_-_Sound_Of_Sky.rar

Susumu Yokota - Symbol (2005)

Date Released: July 19, 2005

Origin: Japan

Genre: Ambient, Chillout, Downtempo, Experimental, Lounge, IDM, Modern Classical

Label: Lo Recordings
Site: http://www.susumuyokota.org/

Tracklist:

1. Long Long Silk Bridge

2. Purple Rose Minuet

3. Traveller In The Wonderland

4. Song Of The Sleeping Forest

5. The Plateau Which The Zephyr Of Flora Occupies

6. Fairy Dance Of Twinkle And Shadow

7. Flaming Love And Destiny

8. The Dying Black Swan

9. Blue Sky And Yellow Sunflower

10. Capricco And The Innovative Composer

11. I Close The Door Upon Myself

12. Symbol Of Life, Love And Aesthetics

13. Music From The Lake Surface __________________________________________________

Having made an almost perfect musical statement with 2000's 'Sakura', Susumu Yokota is often accused of not living up to that album's sprawling scope and diffused ambience. Marking his 25th album (25!) Yokota has decided to answer those critics with a record that combines the detached aura of 'Grinning Cat' with the directness of his more truculent offerings, claiming it to be his "masterpiece". Built around hordes of classical samples (Puccini, Debussy, Mahler and Beethoven amongst them) 'Symbol' is a grand document that raises two pertinent questions; is it pretentious and is it any cop? The answers; probably and certainly. Opening with 'Long Long Silk Bridge' it's easy to stare cynically at the crate load of Juniper scented strings Yokota conjures up, dipping in and out as over-wrought choirs take to the stage with bare floorboard beats underfoot, but somehow it all works wonderfully. Yokota is barely finished on this prologue epic before he sends the listener into another huge arrangement ('Purple Rose Minuet') that sets harpsichords against some eerily echoing Japanese vocals, again to startling effect. Although his panache for bloody stupid song titles pervades throughout ("The Plateau Which the Zephyr of Flora Occupies"/"Fairy Dance of Twinkle and Shadow"), you get the feeling it's not as po-faced as you are first led to believe with a playful spirit evident on most tracks. Closing with the effeminacy of 'Music from the Lake Surface', 'Symbol' is undoubtedly overblown but in Yokota's affable hands it becomes an indulgent treat. Lovely.

Review taken from: http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=17650 Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/163555823/Susumu_Yokota_-_Symbol.rar

Susumu Yokota - Sakura (1999)

Date Released: November 30, 1999
Origin: Japan
Genre: Ambient, Chillout, Downtempo, Experimental, Lounge, IDM
Label: The Leaf Label

Site: http://www.susumuyokota.org/
Tracklist:
1. Saku
2. Tobiume
3. Uchu Tanjyo
4. Hagoromo
5. Genshi
6. Gekkoh
7. Hisen
8. Azukiiro No Kaori
9. Kodomotachi
10. Naminote
11. Shinsen
12. Kirakiraboshi
__________________________________________________
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" has been a huge hit in more than thirty countries, but it failed miserably in Japan. Apparently, the Japanese consider public displays of wealth embarrassing, so the money-grubbing show never had a chance. Failed culture translation can work both ways, of course. Here in America, it's generally considered embarrassing for grown adults to read comics whose heroines are scantily clad prepubescent girls with stripper-sized tits. At least we all agree on Cheap Trick and the Beastie Boys.
I'm thinking about these kinds of differences right now because I'm trying to get to the root of my fascination with the gentle electronic music coming out of Japan. Though they're working in dramatically different styles, I think it's safe to say that artists like Nobukazu Takemura, Aki Tsuyuko, Neina and Susumu Yokota share a sensibility. Each is capable of crafting subtle music that's not afraid to be warm and pretty, but they shade the tender melodies and childlike naiveté with hints of violence and loss. With now-familiar techniques like malfunctioning technology (Neina's Oval-style glitch is the sound of the digital world colliding with nature) and clipped vocal fragments (Takemura's "Kepler" traps Tsuyuko's innocent voice inside a machine), the pretty music becomes something more balanced and complex.
Susumu Yokota made his name in Japan as a House DJ and producer, and this functional background could explain why his ambient music is the most outwardly "pleasant" of the artists mentioned above. Sakura is his latest home-listening entry, a placid display of slow, careful movement with a few unexpected twists.
Much of this album features Yokota's dreamy, processed guitar as a distinctive sound tool. On the lush, cascading "Saku" and "Tobiume" he drowns the electric strings in reverb, and the plucked melodies are hard to trace to their source. The faint guitar melodies work well against the synthetic drones, offering a subtly percussive counterpoint to the electronic tapestry. On "Genshi," Yokota pulls out his this-old-House tools, wielding a gentle, steady kickdrum and shimmering high-hat to push along a gurgling guitar pattern reminiscent of Manual Göttsching. Adding further variation to the six-string texture, "Hagoromo" loops an acoustic guitar pattern to hypnotic effect.
Despite its use in the above tracks, this is by no means a "guitar album," not even in the Fripp & Eno sense of the word. Each of the elements, the guitars, the occasional beats, the vocal samples (heartbreaking on "Azukiio No Kaori," which reminds me of Nobukazu Takemura's amazing remix of "Proverb" on Reich Remixed) and the flowing synthesizers, are used to further the dreamy, contemplative mood. There are a few missteps, most notable the oddly jazzy "Naminote," which seems to strive for Amon Tobin territory but mucks up the flow of the album considerably. Still, this is a worthy artifact from what seems to be an incredibly fertile scene.

Review taken from: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23370-susumu-yokota-sakura

Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/162757733/Susumu_Yokota_-_Sakura.rar

Thievery Corporation - DJ-Kicks (1999)

Date Released: May 18, 1999
Origin: United States
Genre: Trip-Hop, Chillout, Acid Jazz, Downtempo, Soft Trip-Hop, Dub, Lounge
Label: K7

Site: http://thieverycorporation.com
Tracklist:
1. Tropicando - Thievery Corporation, Baxter, Les
2. Rebirth - Thievery Corporation, Kunz, Bernd
3. Beija-Flor - Thievery Corporation, Forge, P.
4. Mother Africa Feeding Sister India/2001 - Thievery Corporation,
5. Rainbow - Thievery Corporation, Bangs, Chris
6. Success - Thievery Corporation, DJ Cam
7. Emerald Alley - Thievery Corporation, Senor Roody
8. Exploration - Thievery Corporation, Dingle, M.
9. Coming from the Top - Thievery Corporation, Thievery Corporatio
10. Ponteio - Thievery Corporation, Lobo, Edu
11. Guiro Electric - Thievery Corporation,
12. Fedime's Flight - Thievery Corporation, Leisering, Stefan
13. Janine - Thievery Corporation,
14. Imperial - Thievery Corporation, Carey, Dan
15. Transmission Central - Thievery Corporation,
16. Mathar - Thievery Corporation,
17. Reign Dub - Thievery Corporation,
18. It Takes a Thief - Thievery Corporation, Garza, Rob
__________________________________________________
Artists & titles selected by Washington, D.C. based DJ's Thievery Corporation (Eric Hilton & Rob Garza). Features many great lounge / chill-out moments, including cuts from Les Baxter, A Forest Mighty Black, Jazzanova & many more.
It seems Studio K7 do no wrong when its comes to their widely adored DJ Kicks series. The German label has showcased the record-selecting talents of DJs and producers from around the world, and in doing so has become a reliable brand name for quality home listening. This installment has Thievery Corporation, Washington, D.C.'s masters of the mellow groove, flexing their skills. The mood across the disc's 18 tracks is decidedly laid-back, but eclectically so. Les Baxter's '60s cinematic lounge sets the scene, but the second track is a quick fast-forward into modern lounge, as provided by Kraut-chillers A Forest Mighty Black. The vibe spans the gamut from sitar-and-tabla world beat (Up Bustle & Out) to dubby (Rockers Hi-Fi), but in the end, it's the Corp's own works that are the true standouts. This is easy listening for the hipster set; background music for the space-age dinner party.

Review taken from: http://www.music-city.org/Thievery-Corporation/DJ-Kicks-708850/
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/162420481/Thievery_Corporation_-_DJ-Kicks.rar