Villalobos - Alcachofa mp3

Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress! Repress!

This needs a repress, hopefully including missing tracks from the CD.

I have a copy with only the A/B + C/D sides. Really want to find and add the E/F side! Anyone has this lying around? Please contact me :-)

A repress is much needed, those prices are crazy .

Does anyone know if Y.G.H is only on CD version ? That is the song that makes me want the rec. so much. such a great piece

Anyone open to selling just the 2nd disc (C/D) at a reasonable price, PM me.-Neto

Anyone selling sides A/B only please drop me a message, thanks!

Dexter-Cocoon-Amnesia.....Fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly fly.

I really don't get WHY there's no a proper repress for both wax and cd versions of Alcachofa..... :(((

This album have been on my iPod for 5 years now, and I never figured out why everyone was talking about it. Few months ago, I started listening more micro house, for example the Romanians. And a week ago, I played this album again, and it was a revelation to me. What a blast. The way he can make a 64 steps loop interesting for more than 10 minutes, the way he makes his drums musical was quite unique at the time. He brought a fundamental things in electronic : drums and percussions have draw their own melody. Masterpiece, repress is necessary !

re-issue. I've wanted this records for ages. I can bring myself to pay over 100 for a used record!

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=31026repress is coming for Easy Lee and Dexter!!!

I recently had a chat with my girlfriend about whether there will ever be another revolutionary turn in music history as was the invention of electronic music. Now, a few days later after listening to this album, I am inclined to think that it might be this, organic music. Music that is unpredictable, that does not follow a certain pattern, but connects bits and pieces in self-diversified complexity similar to that of DNA strands. Music that grows like a plant, like an organism, sounds that mutate, that have a life of their own whose ever-changing nature men will long not begin to comprehend. As technology advances we might be able to explore fields of these musical plants and the contemporary music, that is structured music will seem dated and odd due to its predictability and similarity. Maybe the artichoke is the first metaphor for such musical plants and Alcachofa a forerunner of these things to come, a projection into the future of music and organic systems created through technology. A slight hint though.

Oh okay, didn't know that, thanks for the hint. Could you name some of those artists, so I can check them out? Cheers!

This kind of organic music has been around since the mid-late twentieth century, with contemporary composers from Cage's era creating music that is partially prescriptive and partially left to chance. I suppose it's only a matter of time before it becomes something more mainstream, but this evolution you speak of has already happened...

what a joke!

This needs a repress!! There's substantial demand. Consumers don't want to feed the discogs sharks knowing there has been a few re-issues in the past. Copyright owners, supply chains, retailers, etc. get paid. Win-win.

Absolutely. Perhaps enough evidence of the demand from individuals in the form of emails/letters might bring about a much needed repress? While we're at it arpiar can go right ahead & repress their entire discography-especially the pedro full lengths.

So as I attempt to listen to this album for the fifth time in the space of 12 years since its release, I'm still left wondering what the fuss is about.Perhaps this kind of minimalist "techno" appeals to the chin-stroking elitist intellegentsia that seek out the kind of purposefully obtuse electronica as exemplified on this record. Every track can be summed up thus: tedious minimal grooves - not fast enough to be exciting, not quite slow enough be languid - squelches, token effects, occasional simplistic melodies and vocals. Every track follows this pattern. About the only part of the album that breaks from this excessive tedium is a few moments early on in Waiworinao when some guitar comes in. Nice, but the soloing isn't particularly substantial, and the rhythm repeats in a similar fashion throughout the EIGHT MINUTE track.Sure, concentrate and one can hear all the tweaks, the mixing, the gliches, the twisted sample-fodder. But does this mean the music on Alcachofa is capable of producing an emotional response, or is it a technical exercise pandering to the spectacle-wearing mnml-techno fanatica that write essays about such music?

Carlosegat - Are you replying to the review by chischis? He asks the question "But does this mean the music on Alcachofa is capable of producing an emotional response?" and does not state either of the phrases you highlight!

I'm not trying to uphold this music against your chin strokes, but don't you think it's quite pretentious to go from: "I had no emotional response from it" to it is incapable of producing emotional response?" Not that I like moderate people but I think you should lower your aim.

I think your comments are much better levelled at "The Au Harem D'Archimede", but that said, I've always enjoyed that album far more than "Alcachofa".

Oh mann.

Strange how this album has stayed with me for so long and my fondness for it only gets stronger with every listen.I actually first heard this when I was first began exploring dance music, and something told me there was something special about this guy. I didn't know he was an underground icon or a prolific artist or any of those automatic assumptions you make about Villalobos when you've known about him for a while. But little did I know how much this album would alter my life. As dramatic as that sounds, it did, in so many ways. It shaped the music I began looking for, the parties I attended, the people I met, the friends I made, the drugs I took...Tell your average person that a minimal techno album has such an impact on your life and they will laugh at you, but I think many people will understand exactly where I'm coming from.Alcachofa.

I really wish Y.G.H. was on the vinyl release.

It is very hard to put in context simply how important this album is for the history of electronic music. I have kept note of some of my favorite quotes about this album over the years. RA's editor in chief Todd L. Burns says '' Τhe particular genius of Alcachofa is that you only realized that things like "Easy Lee" and "Dexter" were classics after you listened to them for the second, third or 15th time. It's a nearly impossible trick, making tracks that kept you dancing but which still give up new secrets each time that you hear them. Seven years later, we're still hearing things.'' Whereas Andy Kellman of Allmusic commented that Villalobos "is in complete control of his machines at all times, and he makes them do strange things that no one else can''.For me personally, one of the most striking characteristics of this album is the fact that it sounds nothing, nothing like the music of that era. As we went into 2003, It seemed like techno had realized a big part of it's potential. I vividly remember a friend telling me (unseemly) then that ''electronic music can't go on forever, you simply can't reinvent the kickdrum''. Yet, Ricardo, came along with this album and said to everyone: ''This is how fresh and original can electronic music still sound.'' And so Alcachofa does. It truly sounds futuristic, as if it came from 15-20 years ahead of it's time. It might sound like a cliche, but Ricardo Villalobos is truly and without doubt on level of his own, light years ahead of the best producers around back then and today. Even a quick examination of all the aspects of this album gives it a clean 10/10: Ricardo's mastery of his modular systems and machines, along with his incredible sense of rhythm and spark for song-creation is the basis of the success of this album. Thus, it's sound-design it's one of the freshest, most innovate, expensive & intricate sounding since a very, very long time. Programming-wise it's a masterclass of arrangement, groove creation and ingenious blend of drums, soundscapes and noises; it also has a very live-played feel which and in many cases it seems to be free from the ''step-sequencing'' approach, at least this is how it sounds to me. Aesthetically this album is a true marvel too: in contrast to the euphoria of the 90's, Ricardo produces a much more melancholic and darker sounding album which has helped push the genre in a deeper, more esoteric approach, essentially helping establish the deeper side of techno sound which thrives today, 10 years later. Deep and intelligent electronic dance music at it's best. I heard people say that that this album is the perfect soundtrack to the afterparty, however the truth is that this works perfect in any situation: in the club, in the after, at home, an the car.Having said the above, the cherry on the pie and one of the greatest achievements in Alcacofa is, in my opinion, that all of the above is executed perfectly in dancefloor orientated context and that the tracks are not simply groovy dance tracks, weird sound design or tools... They are mature songs, full songs which you can whistle, you can remember and you can sign. Alcachofa is so good, that if Ricardo was to stop releasing music today, this album alone would be enough to place him amongst the crème de la crème of the best producers around. Ricardo is truly an asset for electronic music as a whole.After writing the above and after listening again to Alcachofa the following question comes to mind immediately: If Ricardo could make such amazing music in 2003, how good can his music be 10 years later in 2013? A visit in Fabric, Robert Johnson or Get Perlonized @ Panorama - places where Ricardo plays regularly extended sets - can reveal how far this man has come: 30 or 25-minute long tracks played from his messy CD collection which are so brilliant that, when sober, can make the honest listener feel high and when high, will make you truly freak out. Is this music released? Nope. Will it ever be released? I hope some of it will, for the benefit of electronic music and for the inspiration they will bring to the younger generations. Until then Alcachofa still offers so much to be inspired from. Frankly, ten years later, it seems that this album hasn't aged a day, easily surpassing some of nowadays most hyped and most forward thinking releases.Thank you, Ricardo.. We all owe you.

Just got my copy and I'm flying high. Thanks fot putting my thoughts into words.

This is the best review I've ever read, so personal, so trully. Thank you Alex, thank you Ricardo !

Finally mine! Easy Lee, Theogenese..... BAM!

you lucky bastard :)

I have never been able to grasp this music speak, talking of analogue this, metropolitan that. I'll say it as it is. This LP still reveals unknown pleasures everytime I listen to it. It is harmonic; it has character; it has that hard to find quality that many record producers seek to find... It is an LP where its whole is as good as the best of its individual parts. So either listen to Alcachofa in part or in entirety you will be surprised and entertained everytime. Well done Mr. Villalobos.

In form with such high quality/concept producers such as cohorts Hawtin and Magda, Ricardo's album breathes with a moody sophistication that's both subtle and captivating. It presents both minimal organic dubs, complete with soft anolog hisses and purrs, and sleek metropolitan techno simultaneously without sounding trite or tired. In fact, it's the consitent combination and juxtaposition of these qualities that make this album a success. While the dissparate track won't be devasting dancefloors at 3 in the morning, the slow-burning continuity of his songs make this album a pleasure.

This release is that most unusual of beasts, a great house album. The tracks are excellently programmed, devilishly funky and on closing track 'Dexter', Villalobos manages to create a very mournful, poignant piece of of electronic music reminiscent (in mood if not the actual sound) of 'Stark Reality', the closing track on Rob Hood's classic 'Nighttime World Vol. 1'.