Rados / Mandrake
Rados (pronounced 'Radosh') are Paul Riordan and Kent Davies, a project named after Ivan Rados who provides ethnic sounding vocals in the majority of this music. I first stumbled upon Rados whilst contacting Paul Riordan about 'Harmonica Man', a track that he recorded under the name of Bravado. Subsequently Paul sent me a demo of the Rados album, 'The Transparent Man', and 'The Radical Change' EP. For the following six months I played this music during warm up sets and chill-out gigs, and Monkey Pilot at Whirl-Y-Gig started playing a couple of the tracks during his parachute sets. 'My Soul is at the End of the Universe' then appeared on a couple of chill-out compilations. After a long wait, 'The Transparent Man' was released in June 2001 on Big Mind Recordings.
Following Ivan Rados's departure from the UK, Paul Riordan has continued to produce music, using the new alias of 'Mandrake'. Dance versions of 'My Soul at the End of the Universe' have been signed to the Liquid Asset label during 2003 under the new title of 'Universal Soul', with remixes by Mandrake, Hemstock & Jennings and Digital Blonde.
CD Single: Rados - The Radical Change
[BIGM001]
 |
Track Listing:
|
Released 1996 on Big Mind Recordings. All tracks produced by Paul Riordan. Additional programming by Kent Davies. Lyrics and vocals by Ivan Rados. Addtional vocals on track 1 by Eve Ellis. Guitar by Paul Riordan. All tracks taken from the album 'The Transparent Man' on Big Mind Recording. This is a limited edition EP that was released for the Cleveland Performance Arts Festival USA 1996. This is a fantastic EP, with each track emmiting so much energy and atmosphere whilst remaining predominently in the realms of ambient dance. Defintely worth tracking down this rare gem. 'My Soul...' now features on the Rados album ' The Transparent Man' and also on the compilation albums 'Euphoria: Chilled 2' and 'Very Best Of Euphoric Chillout Mixes'.
Album: Rados - The Transparent Man
[BM005]
 |
Track Listing:
|
Released 6/01 on Big Mind Recordings. All tracks produced by Paul Riordan, except track 3 produced by Valve. Additional percussion/keyboards and programming bt Kent Davies. Lyrics/spoken vocals by Ivan Rados. Additional vocals by Eve Ellis. Guitar/bass/keyboards/ programming by Paul Riodan. Art images and sleeve design by Ivan Rados. This album was generously provided by Paul Riordan. Again, like the 'Radical Change EP' (see above), this is a wonderful excursion through powerful and atmospheric down-tempo electronica, backed by glorious ethnic sounding vocals and thought provoking spoken samples. There are very few albums in my extensive collection that i'd give a 10/10 rating for - this is one of them. It's an astounding album - Essential.
Promo CD: Rados - My Soul is at the End of the Universe
[TBC]
 |
Track Listing:
|
Promo release 2001 on Big Mind Recordings. Written by Rados & Riordan. Produced by Paul Riordan. Additional programming by Kent Davies. Vocals by Mary Ellis. Spoken vocals by Ivan Rados. The original mix of 'My Soul...' was the Rados tune that really captured my imagination when Paul first sent me the Radical Change EP. Subsequently its received a bit of a makeover in the form of the 'Mandrake Remix', increasing the bpm and thus converting it into an phenomenal slice of global trance.
Dance versions of 'My Soul at the End of the Universe' have been signed to the Liquid Asset label during 2003, under the new title of 'Universal Soul' and artist name 'Mandrake', with remixes by Mandrake, Hemstock & Jennings and Digital Blonde. Both the Digital Blonde and the Hemstock & Jennings remixes push further into harder trance territory, turning this into a serious late night anthem. These remixes should see official release sometime in the near future. Many thanks once again to Paul Riordan for the promo copies of these remixes.
CDS: Mandrake - Sampler EP
[ASSETCD12012P]
 |
Track Listing:
|
Promotional release on Liquid Asset Recordings 2003. Produced by Paul Riordan. This promotional CD features all of the new remixes of 'Universal Soul', a stunning global trancer whose roots lie at the Rados track 'My Soul is at the End of the Universe'. Mandrake's original mix is a wonderful mid-tempo affair, an early evening global trance track that retains many of the original samples and elements of Rados's 'My Soul...'. It has been a key player in my warm-up sets over the last couple of years since Paul generously provided me with a promotional copy and has always been received on the dance floor with a very positive and warm response. Hemstock & Jennings up the tempo significantly, producing a tough, late night, powerful and dramatic trance version, which again has gone down a storm over the last year during my peak time sets at Planet Angel, gaining a huge response every time it is played. Finally the most recent remix is that by The Digital Blonde which is about the same tempo as the Hemstock & Jennings remix and follows in a similar vein, albeit tougher still. I've yet to play this mix out in a DJ set, finding it lacking in bottom end and being very sparkly on top, which makes it difficult to mix with the type of trance music that I DJ, although as a late night trancer I can see the huge potential of this remix.
Also on this sampler EP are two further remixes by Mandrake. The first, 'Children', hardly needs an introduction. Written and produced by Robert Miles, it first appeared in the UK in 1995 on Platipus Records. The following year this uplifting and melodic trancer was released on Deconstruction Records and enjoyed worldwide chart success and subsequently became a big club anthem. Mandrake successfully re-works this mid-90's anthem into a stylish smooth trancer whilst remaining faithful to the original. And even longer, clocking in at an impressive twelve minutes, is Mandrakes remix of 'Exercise Your Rights'. Currently i'm unsure as to the roots of this track, although I'll hopefully get the relevant information from Paul Riordan in the near future. Stepping into more commercial territory, 'Exercise Your Right' is a fantastic tune that will be suited equally to house dance floors as well as trance floors. The sample of "Exercise your rights to a good time, exercise your rights to be free" by Betty Semper is personally a little too commercial sounding for me, but the scope for this tune is huge and I'm sure it will be massive when it receives a formal release.
Other Info:
Paul Riodan also records under the name Bravado.
For further information on Rados and Paul Riordans music see the Big Mind Music web site or the Intronaut web site.
'The Transparent Man' can be bought directly from Paul Riordan - check the Big Mind Music web site for more details.
