Chris Whitley - Rocket House (2001)(ATO Records – UTLP 040 GermanPressing)(24-bit 96kHZ vinyl rip)

Chris Whitley – Rocket House
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96kHz | FLAC | no cue or log (vinyl) | artwork
332 (16/44.1) + 1.17 GB (24/96) | RS/FP/FF/Torrent | Blues/Trip Hop | ATO Records – UTLP 040

Rocket House is the seventh album by singer-songwriter and guitarist, Chris Whitley. It is his sixth studio album.




It was produced by Tony Mangurian and recorded primarily at Soho Music Studios in New York City. It was mixed by Tony Mangurian and Danny Madorsky at Greene St. Recording.



 another Chris Whitley rarity, generously loaned by tigermks!

David Todoran - Whatzup Indiana Entertainment Weekly, June 2001

For the past year or so, I've been aware of Chris Whitley's intentions to do what he termed "a techno album." With the free reign afforded by Dave Matthews' fledgling ATO Records, and sonic spark provided by producer/percussionist Tony Mangurian, Whitley's bold vision has come to pass.

The sonic collage created by Whitley and Mangurian is nothing less than cinematic in scope. Tape effects and looped guitars recall the deep and often dissonant textures that mark most of Whitley's output, but unlike any of Whitley's previous studio efforts, Mangurian breaks down the wall of guitars, preferring instead layers of electronica: turntable effects, synth guitars, programmed drums, and distorted vocal loops swirl and scatter in and out of the picture while Whitley's vocal remains squarely in focus. Imagine a film in which scenes, backgrounds, and supporting cast move and shift in varying degrees of time lapse photography while the main character alone moves in real time.

A rolling banjo riff drives the groove of "Joy," while on "Radar" (with guests Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby) grand piano and Wurlitzer accents percolate to the surface of the dense mix. A stark resonator guitar figure intermittently parts the wash of keyboards and sampled Japanese koto on "Chain," while an eerie ghost vocal (provided by Whitley's teenage daughter Trixie) flows over and around Whitley's breathy falsetto. On the title track, the various components work independent of---almost oblivious of---the insistent pulse of Mangurian's drum track. It's an ambidextrous mix of right brain/left brain action where all parts work independently and yet converge to buoy up Whitley's vocal and gently plucked resonator guitar. The overall effect is not unlike the sort of controlled cacophony conjured up by Miles Davis on BITCHES BREW---that is, if Davis had written three minute slices of abstract, pop-rock poetry. In direct contrast, tracks like "Solid Iron Heart," "Little Torch" and "Vertical Desert" fall back on more familiar territory with bluesy guitar and gospel-tinged vocals accented only by an occasional tabla or DJ Logic's "electronic abstractions."

While the unique contributions of DJ Logic, and Mangurian (who co-wrote three tracks) may at first be a bit disconcerting to purists expecting the more organic guitar-based approach of Whitley's work of late, ROCKET HOUSE's experiment in electronica---to my ears--- captures the spirit of existential eroticism at the heart of Whitley's best work. The most crucial elements of Whitley's recorded output so far--- the aggressive intensity of DIN OF ECSTASY, the pop smarts of TERRA INCOGNITA, the subtle dreamscapes of LIVING WITH THE LAW---even a dose of the stark realism of DIRT FLOOR--- are effectively recast in his most metamorphic album to date.

Read more here.



tracks:
A1 To Joy (Revolution Of The Innocents) 4:26
A2 Radar 4:04
A3 Chain 5:38
B1 Say Goodbye 3:37
B2 Solid Iron Heart 3:51
B3 Rocket House 6:09
C1 Serve You 4:10
C2 Little Torch 4:45
C3 From A Photograph 3:55
D1 Vertical Desert 3:32
D2 Something Shines 9:05

credits:
Chris Whitley - vocals, guitars, synth guitars, banjo, synth bass
Tony Mangurian - drums, processing and programming, bass, guitar
Stephen Barber - keyboards, piano, synth bass, percussion, jaw harp, programming
DJ Logic - turntables, electronic abstraction
Trixie Whitley - vocals on "Chain," "Serve You"
Blondie Chaplin - vocals, vamps on "To Joy," "Rocket House," "Little Torch," "Shines," "Solectric guitar, vocals on "Radar"
Darren Vigil Grey - percussion on "To Joy"
Jill Momaday - percussion on "To Joy"
Bruce Hornsby - Wurlitzer outro on "Radar"
Chick Graning - vocals on "Rocket House"
Badal Roy - tabla on "Little Torch"
Mark Henry - programming on "Serve You"
Produced by Tony Mangurian

notes
Recorded at Soho Music Studios, NYC
Mixed by Tony Mangurian and Danny Madorsky at Greene Street, NYC
Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisc - NYC, Digital Editing by Roger Lian
Additional Engineering by Danny Kadar, Mark Henry
Rocket House drawing by Trixie Whitley

transfer: December 29, 2012
Record Doctor RCM
Audio-Technica AT33EV
Sota Sapphire w/ Eminent Technology Tonearm 2 (ET-2)
Tube Box SE II w/NOS Telefunken ECC83
E-MU 0404
Sound Studio [capture 24-bit/96kHZ]
Amadeus Pro [Analyze, split tracks, verify waveform, no clipping]
Izotope RX2 [manual de-clicking]
XLD [flac conversion]



Thanks to BFR1028 and thax for seedbox help!