Before I jumped in the time machine, I had first to decide how far back should I go and indeed how far back did I want to go? I decided for reasons of practicality and 'aesthetics' that we would start at the very beginning of the eighties, with 'STARSHIP AFRICA', this seemed a good starting point because it somehow seem to connect very much with what I am involved in now with 'The Psychedelic Manifesto' and the whole 'POST-DUBSTEP/AMBIENT-DUBSTEP' genre we seem to be defined as being associated with, although the best description I have read of what we do is 'TRIP-POP'. So this 'archive' begins in 1980 and ends in 2005. In 2008 RENE & I relocated from COLOGNE to LONDON and the first PSYCHEDELCIC MANIFESTO ALBUM was released in 2009.

I include two tracks from pre 1980, which are 'TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS' from KRAFTWERK, and AUGUSTUS PABLO / KING TUBBY MEEETS ROCKERS UPTOWN. I include these tracks because more than anything else since DAVID BOWIE'S 'LOW & HEROES', all the seventies ROXY MUSIC albums, TODD RUNDGREN'S MINDBLOWING 70S ELECTRONIC MASTERPIECE 'A WIZZARD A TRUE STAR', the first VELVET UNDERGROUND album, TERRY RILEY'S 'RAINBOW IN CURVED AIR', ROY HARPERS BEAUTIFUL POETIC, SUBLIME 'STORMCOCK', THE BEATLES and the first two PINK FLOYD ALBUMS, it was the title track of this MASTERPIECE 70s KRAFTWERK album together with this KING TUBBY album that changed my whole concept of sound and was more than anything else my greatest inspiration. I have also included a relatively obscure early eighties track from GERMANY by LIAISONS DANGEROUS called Los Niños Del Parque, this was another magnificent track, way better than anything else around, which serves to illustrate just how brilliant and indeed advanced GERMAN ELECTRONIC MUSIC was in those days, with for example inspired producers like the late great CONNY PLANK. I have also included PRINCE FAR I's UNDER HEAVY MANNERS, another inspired JAMAICAN masterpiece from the mid 70s. I include this more as a tribute to FAR I, a man I knew well and worked with for some years. The other major influence was all the wonderful stuff coming out of NEW YORK CITY IN THE 80s, when URBAN RADIO STATIONS LIKE 98.7 KISS FM & HOT 103 were pumping out the most mind blowing music and mixes in the world! The TONY HUMPHRIES & SHEP PETTIBONE MIXES & MASTERMIXES were truly inspired and mind blowing in every sense, and these radio stations and their DJ/Mixmasters like Tony & Shep, were making the rest of the world and indeed the rest of America look like it was living in a time warp. I was also fortunate enough to work in UNIQUE STUDIOS just of TIME SQUARE, a small studio complex which was in fact the very nerve center of all the seriously cool ELECTRO stuff that was coming out! ARTHUR BAKER was a 'resident producer' there, and his engineer at the time was CHRIS LORD-ALGE, who went on to become a hugely successful producer in his own right, producing hugely successful artists like DIANNE ROSS etc. Both Chris and Arthur were really nice, incredibly creative and innovative people, and it was a pleasure to know them. I also at this time worked and became very friendly with a guy called DUKE BOOTEE (ED FLETCHER) usually referred to simply as 'FLETCH'! Fletch was an incredibly nice guy with enormous style and talent, he in fact was the guy who wrote the lyrics and provided the vocals for 'THE MESSAGE' BY GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE which was a huge breakthrough hit. I often hung out in UNIQUE with 'FLETCH', 'FLASH', BAM' and the other guys from the various bands and labels, and Fletch used to tell wonderful stories of his days with THE SUGAR HILL GANG, when they would tour in a still very racist American South. Some truly great tracks came out at that time most or many produced in Unique, AFRICA BAMBATTA'S PLANET ROCK, for example which sampled KRAFTWERK, and which RALF & FLORIAN were non to happy about and in fact sued, and won the case! And a whole lot more inspired productions. I loved all the SHANNON STUFF-LET THE MUSIC PLAY etc., and a great track I remember by CBANK CALLED 'ONE MORE SHOT'! So many wonderful times and releases and an amazingly creative high point in music and sound production. I also remember KRAFTWERK playing THE RITZ IN NEW YORK and 90% of the audience was black or hispanic and they were all massive Kraftwerk fans, they knew exactly what the GERMAN MENSCH MACHINE was doing way before'white America' started to wake up to it.