Heads up all you Sublime Frequencies obsessives out there, and we know there are a lot of you, this is record number two from a new label called Sham Palace, run by Mark Gergis, one of the guys who runs SF, and whose first release was the amazing Leh Jani lp from aQ fave Omar Souleyman. This new lp is a collection of Dabke, a celebratory music performed at weddings and parties in the Middle East, hypnotic electrified dance jams driven by the buzzing of the mejwiz, a double reed bamboo flute, this modern version accompanied by driving electronic beats, over which a male vocalist, calls out for the audience to dance and participate. Does that all sound a little familiar? That's because Omar Souleyman is probably the most well known Dabke performer, at least in the West, so if you can't get enough of that sound, here's a killer collection of super obscure Dabke cuts, collected from various tapes and cds, featuring tracks captured live at parties and weddings, and like those Souleyman jams, the jams here are driving and hypnotic, psychedelic and totally mesmerizing, totally tranced out, the beats booming, pounding, skittering, the melodies buzzing wildly, the tracks here all vary quite a bit, from stripped down and a bit more mellow, to bombastic and booming, to brittle and lo-fi and distorted and drenched in echo and reverb, the programed beats wild and chaotic, the grooves totally irresistible, some amazing stuff.
And needless to say, WAY recommended, especially for all Sublime Frequencies / Omar Souleyman fans!!
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!! Packaged in nice full color sleeves with printed liner notes on the back of the jacket.
For all you Mississippi Records obsessives, Sublime Frequencies nuts, and just diggers of old timey 78's and world music (which we'd like to think covers a whole lot of folks who read the aQ list), comes this, the first release from record store turned label Hinter Records, and it's a good one, if a bit obscure, but then that only makes it that much more interesting. Don't Trust Your Neighbors is a collection of "Early Albanian Traditional Songs & Improvisations" from the twenties and thirties, and is overflowing with amazing songs, sounds and performances, the vibe is definitely similar to some of the Greek music compilations we've carried, which makes sense since they're neighbors, but we hear plenty of influences from Turkey, and Romania too, the vibe to our ears is definitely a sort of gypsy folk, but the sound is often surprisingly raga-like, hypnotic and droney, for every proper song here, there's a gorgeous sprawling drone-y jam, that evokes the same sort of hypnotic mesmer that most modern space/psych outfits spend their whole careers chasing.
There's extensive liner notes, presented as a beautiful 4 panel heavy cardstock insert, that details the quest for the records that make up this collection, as well as plenty on the history of Albania and the artists here, which is super interesting, but even removed from the historical background, the music here is so powerful, and so intense, dramatic and tense, quite dark much of the time, emotional and hypnotic, there are dances, and ballads, traditional folks songs, the vocals so passionate and powerful, but the strangely mesmerizing music and the way the music and the vocals seem to blur and intertwine, it must be the improvisation angle that really gives this the strange energy we find so appealing, but throughout strings buzz, and melodies unfurl into sprawling drones, the raga feel is huge, and makes this so much more than just a historical document. Instead this plays out like a collection of lives and loves, of memories and mysterious, all translated into glorious sound, evoking a sort of muted majesty and a powerful personal energy that imbues these songs with a humanity and intensity that is utterly mesmerizing.
Packaged in beautiful full color covers - with art by Robert Crumb! - with the aforementioned heavy cardstock printed insert, which includes liner notes and lots of amazing photos.
Subtitled: "The First Recordings in the Georgian Republic." The Traditional Crossroads label is at its best when digging up and restoring historical recordings from the Middle East and elsewhere, such as those found here, 25 tracks recovered (and digitially
First proper lp release from aQ pal, 78 collector, and curator of the awesome Excavated Shellac blog, Jonathan Ward, appropriately enough on Parlortone, "The Phonographic Arm And Limited Edition Leg" of longtime favorite reissue label Dust-To-Digital. And it's a doozy, before we get into it, anyone who buys everything on Mississippi is gonna want one of these, if you loved the Black Mirror collection, or the Victrola Favorites, for anyone into world music, into lost gems, old sonic obscurities, this is about as good as it gets, the song selection, the curation, the sound, the detailed liner notes, utterly fantastic, and sonically breathtaking. But of course we would have expected nothing less.
For those not familiar with it, Excavated Shellac is a blog dedicated to "78rpm recordings of folkloric and vernacular music from around the world", and besides having an incredible collection, Ward also is a fantastic write, who writes extensively about each record he posts (almost all unavailable anywhere else in any format), detailing the recording, the style of music, the history, a musical lesson in every post, and the music, well needless to say, it's easy to get lost and subsequently obsessed.
So Excavated Shellac: Strings, is an analog extension of the ES blog, with all the things we love about the blog intact. Of course there's the music, impeccably chosen, deftly cleaned up, and perfectly sequenced, the writing, informative and funny, educated and informed, about the record, the project, and each track and artist, and of course the object itself, beautifully laid out, pressed on thick vinyl, lots of amazing archival photos, so great.
This first volume focuses on string instruments from around the world, Armenia, India, Bolivia, Congo, Vietnam, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Uganda, Lebanon, Japan, Norway, Croatia and Paraguay. Every song a gem, haunting solos on Middle Eastern lutes, tangled frantic, droney sitar like buzz from India, playful festive dance music from Bolivia played on small guitars fashioned from gourds, gorgeous acoustic guitar music, lush and melodic, with soulful call and response vocals, from Congo, home recorded duets on 2 string fiddle and 'moon guitar' from Vietnam, solo violin from Iran, traditional folk music from Georgia, we could go on and on and on and on. But you know already if you need this, and it seems likely you probably do. We had been hearing rumblings about a Jon Ward / Dust-To-Digital project in the works, and had been anxiously awaiting it ever since. Now that we're playing this to death, we find ourselves already looking forward to future volumes. So incredible, and so totally recommended.
Beautifully printed matte finish sleeve, heavy vinyl, with a printed cardstock 4 page insert, with liner notes and photos and more!
The Honest Jons label has lately been giving Dust to Digital a real run for its money, in terms of releasing those far flung old world global sounds that we have not been able to get enough of. After devouring the Victrola Favorites and Black Mirror comps on D2D, the gorgeous I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore LP on Mississippi records and Honest Jon's last foray into dislocation, Living is Hard, we couldn't help but get excited over Honest Jon's latest release of early twentieth century recordings from Baghdad. Pulled from the same EMI archives as the Living is Hard compilation, Give Me Love: The Brokenhearted of Baghdad gives a keenly focused view of the ethnically diverse musical output of Iraq when it was still a British mandated territory. Arab folk singers backed by Jewish dance bands, solo Kurdish violin excursions, nightclub bands with female singers who doubled as prostitutes, circular zorna improvisations on par with the most out-jazz out there. So unearthly,beautiful and emotionally urgent. For obvious reasons, this release couldn't be more timely, as continued forced occupancy in the region has created such intense division and strife that it's a wonder we'll see such beauty again. Heartbreaking!
Similar to the now-impossible-to-get, vinyl-only "Turkish Delights" compilation (but on cd and in stock!) is this great collection of vintage psychedelic rock music from Turkey. With 22 tracks, spanning the years 1966-1975, this collection is a great
That it's the first double disc in the Sublime Frequencies series says something about I Remember Syria. Recorded by Mark Gergis (Monopause / Neung Phak, Porest) in 1998 and 2000, I Remember Syria is an impressive collection of sounds, interviews and music from a country that's essentially unknown to the western world. Vilified by Bush, Rumsfeld et al. There's really no access to the wonderful culture of Syria. Gergis successfully attempts to alleviate that with the two plus hours presented here. Recorded using a stereo mic. and minidisc recorder, and subsidized with excerpts from television and radio. Disc one focuses on the city of Damascus, while disc two features recordings from throughout Syria. Along with recordings of street musicians, wedding processions, prayers, mosque interiors and open air markets are brief interviews with Syrian citizens reflecting on the US Govt. and the west in general. I Remember Syria is an impressive and unique audio documentary of a country that deserves more positive exposure.
This is a recording of an annual festival held in Bengal and the performances on this recording are mostly of solo voice and male choruses. What's odd is that, though made in May of 1999, the recording sounds as though someone stuck a microphone in a tin can,
Short form review: Ridiculously awesome.
We mean, kind of a no-brainer here, you know you want this - the sequel to B-Music's indeed wonderful The Sound Of Wonder comp has arrived, and of course it's awesome. As the subtitle Plugged-In Sounds of Wonder at the Pakistani Picture House suggests, it's another 16 tracks of vintage "Lollywood" soundtrack gems, exotic pop produced by the Lahore film industry circa the '60s and '70s, taken from the vaults of EMI Pakistan; a spicy blend of impassioned vocals, fuzz guitars, analog synths, spacey effects, lush orchestration, and ethnic hand percussion, music that's just a bit rawer and if possible zanier than its Bollywood counterpart, though not too dissimilar...
Life Is Dance sure starts off with a bang, a Great Googly Moogly of a track called "Zambo Zambo" boasting crazy gruff vocals that will have you staring at your stereo. That one goes on for nearly nine minutes, really a wild ride full of curious, catchy sonic juxtapositions. And somehow this album's compilers keep up the "Urdu-groove" awesomeness from there on in. Many of the big names Lollywood history appear here, among 'em Sohail Rana and Nahid Akhtar.
As always with B-Music/Finders Keepers stuff, impeccably researched, lovingly presented, with informative liner notes and evocative graphics...
We were so excited when we heard that the newest installment in the always-cool Love Peace And Poetry series was going to focus on Turkish Psychedelic music! For a few years now, we've been loving all the '60s and '70s Turkish psych we could lay our hands on (which unfortunately is not as much as we'd like). We've had reissues of such bands as Mogollar, 3 Hur-el, Erkin Koray, Edip Akbayram, and Bulent. So, when we heard about this comp, we were excited -- but also wary of getting TOO excited, faced with the possibilty that this would simply consist of tracks by artists we already know and love, from records we already own, with nothing new and unknown to sate our appetite for more Middle Eastern psych treats. Well, holy halva! We couldn't have been more blown away when we finally got this in. Of the sixteen tracks, only five were by the above mentioned artists, while the rest were by artists totally unknown to us. And on top of that, EVERY track is amazing! From the Eastern-tinged, faux sitar, raga-like sixties garage rock of Selda, to the sunny proggy keyboard heavy folk of Ozdemir Erdogan, to the crooning soulful psych of Alpay, to the almost disco-y wild guitar groove of Hardal, to the strange Ethiopiques meets ska horns of Erkut Tackin. Wow! A lot of killer cuts on this one. We just can't stop playing it. Definitely lives up to the standards set by the two compilations that pretty much first introduced us to the Turkish psych scene, Hava Narghile on Bacchus Archives and (the now out of print) Turkish Delights on Grey Past.
And why do we like Turkish psych so much? Well, Turkey has a long tradition of musical talent to begin with, and being a part of Europe as well as Asia, the whole phenomenon of East-meets-West hybridization (in this case, traditional Anatolian folk and '60s pop beat) makes for some amazing music that couldn't come from anyplace else. Plus, psychedelia as a musical genre has always held a fascination with the East, the exotic... so psych music FROM such lands has a built-in advantage. Just check this out and you'll see.
Founded in 1900 by Carl Stumpf, The Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv is a repository devoted to archiving the musics of the world before their eventual destruction by encroaching modernization brought about by global capitalism. Case in point is presented on page two
Another amazing archival release from the seemingly infallible Honest Jon's, the fourth in their series of compilations collecting early 78s held in the EMI archives.
Open Strings, is as the title suggests, a collection of songs by virtuoso stringed instrument players, hailing from Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey, all recorded in the 1920s, an incredible selection of tracks, almost entirely unheard since they were first released. And wow. Every single track here is fantastic. Folks who have been obsessing over the Sublime Frequencies series best start paying attention to Honest Jon's as well, absolutely riveting, emotional, idiosyncratic, passionate, from wild musical flights of fancy, flurries of notes, tangled melodies, to warm whirring droning ragas, to playful folky lullabies, to wild, almost psychedelic workouts, to frenzied freakouts, to dark contemplative ballads, all warm and crackly and gorgeously aged, but at the same time absolutely timeless, this is some seriously magical music, lost treasures for sure.
And although it's really unnecessary, considering how sublime the first disc is on its own, the bonus material, featuring contemporary raga / drone string players responding to the originals (without which there music would not exist, or if it did, it would be in an extremely different form) is also pretty fantastic. And no doubt, folks with very little interest in Middle Eastern string music from the 20s will probably pick this up anyway for the folks doing modern versions of said music, just check out the lineup: SIR RICHARD BISHOP, SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE, STEFFEN BASHO-JUGHANS, MICHAEL FLOWER, CHARLIE PARR, BRUCE LICHER, PAUL METZGER, RICK TOMLINSON, MV & EE AND MICAH BLUE SMALLDONE. Not bad. And their interpretations/versions are quite varied and all quite cool, from dark hushed whispers, to effects laden psychedelic blowouts to longform raga buzz to delicate folky flutter. Hopefully folks who pick this up for the modern stuff, will dig deeper and discover a whole new world of sound.
The cd comes in a gorgeous printed gatefold jacket, with thick printed inner sleeves, and the vinyl, WOW. Super extravagant printed box, 4 lps in printed inner sleeves, heavy and deluxe and thus, a bit expensive, but for vinyl obsessives, probably well worth it.
Those folks at Finders Keepers / B-Music never stop wowing us with the killer stuff they dig up. This list, we've made their reissue of the Aussie psychedelic biker flick soundtrack Stone one of our Records Of The Week, and we're constantly having to order more copies of recent discs like The BYG Deal (documenting rarities released by the radical French underground label BYG) and The Sound Of Wonder (an indeed wondrous collection of music from Pakistan's "Lollywood" cinema).
Now, here's Pomegranates, an amazing compilation of "Persian pop, funk, and psych of the 60s and 70s" compiled by a pair of Iranian-American music lovers delving into the pop culture past of their parents' generation, prior to the fall of the Shah, an era of rapid Westernization, economic stratification, and eventual sociopolitical upheaval. Looking back with bittersweet nostalgia, enthusiasm, and curiosity, they've put together a dazzling array of music that's usually quite groovy, also often melancholic, and sometimes subversive. Several tracks are considered classics, some are total obscurities (same to us!), all are irresistible. It's a colorful hybrid of East and West, of Persian musical traditions (already a melting pot of international influences) and electric youth energy. You'll hear strains of Western psych-pop, James Brown funk, Indian raga, Gypsy flamenco, Turkish folk, another other 'exotic' Middle Eastern motifs...
So many great tracks on here, the compilers almost making it impossible to select faves 'cause it's all so good, but if we had to pick just one highlight maybe it would be popular singer Googoosh's "Talagh", which sets her sweet voice soaring over one of the most insidiously slinky grooves EVER, pulsating with sinister fuzz-funk energy under flourishes of cinematic strings. She's got a couple more tracks on here, as befits her status as one of Iran's top pop stars of the day, a true sensation. If you like Turkey's Selda, you'll like what you'll hear here from Googoosh and this disc's other female vocalists. We also should note the zinging sitar funk of Abbass Mehrpouya's "Soul Raga", definitely another standout (it also appears on the full-length Mehrpouya reissue we raved about recently). But we haven't scratched the surface, the tracks by the other artists here, including Parva, Zia, Soli, Sima Bina, Ramesh, Noosh Afarin, Kourosh Yaghmaie, and others, are all awesome too, varying from groovy dancefloor workouts to aching love songs, sometimes both in one. Lots to enjoy, dive in!!
Oh, and of course like all Finders Keepers releases, this is nicely appointed, in a slipcover, with a thick, illustrated cd booklet featuring extensive, informative liner notes from co-compiler Mahssa Taghinia.
FYI we'll be getting a few copies of the import vinyl edition soon, they're not here yet though...
Looking at the cover of this comp, what catches our eye? Well, of course the words PSYCH and FUNK in big electric pink letters. Pretty much had us right there, we're easy like that. But then the fine print on the sticker on the front adds an extra tingle of excitement: "None of these tracks have ever been reissued"! So what we have here is a survey course on some obscure shit, an international collection of freaky, fuzzy, funky jams from the golden years, circa 1968-1975 or so, mostly from groups we'd never heard of before. The ones did know were a good sign, being super groovy and decidedly eccentric. (Though we do have to point out that at least a few of the cuts here actually have been reissued before, that's how we knew 'em!). Here's the lineup: Hunsu Ozkartal Orkestrasi (Turkey), Kukumbas (Nigeria), Mulatu Astatke feat. Belaynesh Wubante and Assegedetch Asfaw (Ethiopia), Kim Sun (South Korea), Petalouda (Greece), Mehr Pooya (Iran), Staff Carpenborg and The Electric Corona (West Germany), The Group (Italy), Armando Sciascia (Italy), Wadih Essafi (Lebanon), Omar Khorshid (Egypt), Metin H. Alatli (Turkey), George Garanian with The Melodiya Jazz Ensemble (Russia), and Eskaton (France). 14 tracks in all, all of 'em b to the a to the d to the ass. Get ready for plenty of percolating percussion, infectious bass lines, analog synth buzz, chicken scratch guitar, greasy organ, drugged out FX, and in many cases Middle Eastern or African or other 'exotic' ethnic elements as appropriate to their nation of origin. Highlights are almost impossible to pick. All the African stuff is killer (Ethiopiques fans take note), so are the Turkish tracks (you want weird? check out how the Metin H. Alatli cut somehow segues from Richard Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith music to stoned cocktail bellydance improv!!), so is everything else. We dig how eerieness and jazziness are combined on "The Feed-back" by The Group (aka Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, featuring Ennio Morricone), and also Armando Sciascia's suspenseful "Circuito Chiuso" is pretty eerie too. Both are from Italy, where it seems that it's hard NOT to sound like you're scoring a phantasmagoric horror flick a la Goblin. Also, we love love love the grandiose extended electro-funk from Magmoid progsters Eskaton that closes out the disc. But why keep writing about this, you know you need it - unless your record collection already includes all these rarities, and there's no way it does.
Lovingly compiled with the help of DJs like Cut Chemist and Stone's Throw's Egon, Psych Funk 101 is truly a lesson in, well, a variety of awesome vintage funkiness, in the tradition of other cool comps like Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, Obsession, Trap Door, and the Afro-centric Love's A Real Thing. Housed in a handsome digipack, it boasts a thick, 36 page booklet featuring a two-page spread on each track, with full color repro of the original LP or 45 sleeve from whence the cut originated, along with a page of text giving more info than you'd expect.
FYI this also came out on vinyl, but was gone so fast, we don't have any to list. However, we are told it is being repressed, soon we hope...
Yet another incredible comp from the fine folks at Dust-To-Digital, after two recent aQ faves, the Luk Thung collection of obscure Thai 78's, and the Kassidat compilation of rare, raw 45's from Morocco. Well if you dug those, you're gonna want this one too, another collection of rare 45's, this time from Yemen, a handful of singles released in the sixties and seventies, documenting a sound and music that has historically remained immune from Western influence, and thus offers a true glimpse into the lives of the Yemeni people, and gives Westerners perhaps one of their first glimpses of Yemeni music. And as you might imagine, it's pretty magical, lots of oud, a buzzing guitar like instrument, that's rich and resonant, accompanied by fantastically expressive and emotional vocals, laid back and weary on some tracks, effusive and wild on others, some call and response, accompanied occasionally by simple percussion, handclaps, one track forsakes the oud completely and instead lays down an amazing percussive backdrop, all clattery and clangy and metallic, a shimmery pulsing field of hypnotic metal, over which some of the most beautiful vocals soar and swirl. The whole collection is stunning, by turns mysterious, intimate, playful, passionate and completely mesmerizing.
As always, the packaging is top notch, tons of photos, and extensive liner notes, on the region, the history, the songs and the musicians.
Recorded by SCG man Alan Bishop during a summer 1983 visit to Morocco. Like Radio Java and palestine discs, the material for this 20 year old collection of recordings is taken straight off the radio. But unlike the Radio Palestine recording Morocco is much less attention deficit disorder ridden. Rather than clipping along in ten second and less sound bites, songs are actually allowed to develop and even finish on many a track. Tucked in alongside news reports, commercials and short snippets of Moroccan Serge Gainsbourg impersonations there are some really amazing Moroccan originals. "Radio Fes" features a live recording of a Moroccan orchestra supercharged with organ and electric guitar -- listen for the howls of joy from the back of the hall during the quiet sections. Other tracks feature traditional musicians cranking their sound out via low wattage transmitters and lo-fi equipment to produce a squashed ethno garage sound. There's a huge variety of stuff here and it all mixes well together without sounding too chaotically eclectic. As a bonus for those die hard SCG fans, there's a couple of classics that you may recognize here in their original form. A few more Sublime Frequencies recordings like this and someone will be able to put together a handsome "Roots of the Sun City Girls" comp.
Another collection of music, commercials, news reports and noise culled from radio broadcasts recorded by Alan Bishop. The tracks here were captured by Mr. Bishop in 1985 in Egypt and Jerusalem. Of the three radio discs released to date by Sublime Frequencies, this one is the most ADD afflicted. The bulk of the sound samples collected here are less than 30 seconds in length, some of them mere seconds, with most of the edits even seemingly to have been done using the radio dial at the time of their being recorded. That said, there's an abundance of odd music and sounds crammed into the 66 minutes of this disc: BBC news, a Soviet-esque female chorus with piano, romantic instrumentals, hammered dulcimer and drone, chipper singers with orchestral accompaniment, psychedelic electric oud solos, commercials, religious broadcasts, radio noise and more. Sit back and let Alan take control of the remote for an hour.
Holy cow! Yet another fantastic Sublime Frequencies release, this one a double lp of Rajasthan street music from Western India, a region plagued by power failures, droughts, dried up rivers, and the ever encroaching deserts, with a history of continuous invasions, epic battles, and brutal slaughters. (Sorta sounds like this is gonna be a metal comp, but no it's not.) The people of the region are resilient, and this history and the surrounding folklore are forever immortalized in music, a sound at once devotional, traditional and celebratory, the songs on this compilation collected over a two year period between 2007 and 2008, recorded live on street corners, and in people's homes, capturing the raw emotion and deep beauty of the music, and all it embodies and represents. The sounds are super varied, from droned out ragas, trancey and hypnotic, with gorgeous lilting vocals and long layered tones, some peppered with wild percussion, and on some tracks, the singer will just break from the song, and talk to someone else in the room before slipping right back into it. Other tracks sound a bit like stripped down Bollywood musicals, soaring female vocals, buzz wreathed rhythms, and still others are groovy, hazy, psychedelic Indian folk music, shimmering strings, stunning vocal melodies. And while there are moments of meditative melancholia, much of the record seems to celebrate life, the music and voices, infused with a vitality and positive energy, that belies the trials and tribulations of the region and its people. Truly gorgeous stuff.
Packaged in a super heavy, full color gatefold jacket, with tons of cool photos, and extensive liner notes, as well as a two sided printed insert, with still more liner notes, on these recordings, the region and its history, as well as notes on each song and performer.
At this point, sixties psych reissues are a dime a dozen. We have a whole section in the store, packed with good ones, and those are only a tiny fraction of what gets released. We've groused about it before, but just cuz it's old and rare, doesn't make it worth reissuing. Though sometimes, wow, is it ever!
The one thing we had never seen though, was a collection of sixties garage and psych from Iran. Then again, we had probably never wondered about the garage psych scene in Iran at all, but Raks Raks Raks has set us straight, and has us wishing we had.
As one might imagine, playing in a psychedelic rock band in the Middle East in the sixties was no cake walk, although according to the liner notes, it was maybe not as bad as we in the West might imagine, but amidst the various restrictions, political and personal, folks were of course still expressing themselves, and making music, and the results speak for themselves. Odds are, like us, you won't recognize a single band here, but it hardly matters, every track here is a winner, from Asian sounding grooves, to Ventures like surfy twang, to distinctly Middle Eastern sounding melodies, to fuzzy fifties-ish vocal doo wop, to twisted Monkees-like catchy pop, to Ethiopiques-ish jazzy funky grooves, to jangly psych folk, to fuzzy organ driven Joe Meek like grooviness, all infused with a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe, not just the language, the sound itself. Lo-fi, but so bursting with life and color and energy, classic sounds but imbued with elements and twists that make the tracks on Raks Raks Raks stand WAY out from the ordinary sixties psych reissue crowd BIG TIME! Expensive maybe, but so so worth it!
Massive booklet with extensive liner notes, as much about the history of the era and the politics of the region as the music and the artists.
Over the last few years, thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of a bunch of excellent globally-focused "research & reissue" labels, the typical AQ customer, as a dedicated sonic adventurer in the pursuit of cool music, has likely amassed quite a collection of vintage international pop, often on the psychedelic side of things, lots of great stuff previously obscure to Western ears. We've been introduced to surf rock from Thailand, funk from India, fuzz rock from Africa, film music from Pakistan, etc., etc. One of our faves has to be B-Music's Pomegranates comp of Persian grooves from the pre-revolutionary era, the '60s and '70s. Now here's a double cd/triple lp collection on Vampisoul deeply mining the same territory. And chances are, you'll recognize some of the names on here, like Googoosh and Kourosh Yaghmaei, from various other reissues/anthologies that have come out recently.
There's 28 tracks/treats dusted off from a scene that "flourished during the 1960s and 1970s before vanishing into exile or oblivion." Sadly, it was the same story elsewhere in the world too - political repression clamping down (with varying degrees of terminal harshness) on the era's vibrant pop music scenes in such far flung locales as Cambodia, Ethiopia, Brazil, and, under consideration here, Iran.
The Shah might have sucked, but as the liner notes here put it, after the Ayatollah took over, "'having fun' was banned entirely"! And what fun this is, the songs selected here chock full of impassioned crooning, lush swirling orchestration, bombastic dance beats, slinky grooves, some doleful acoustic balladry, and of course much in the way of ornate ethnic Eastern motifs... It's like an infectious Iranian blend of 50's exotica, '60s easy listening, '70s disco... with some strong hints of freakier, more psychedelic youth sounds like funk and rock. And most of it would make a great soundtrack if the Love Boat ever took Persian Gulf cruise.
Artists include: Abbas Mehrpouya, Fereidoon Farrokhzad, Neli, Habib, Hamid Shabkhiz, Simin Ghanem, Dariush, Ahmad Zahir (who is from Afghanistan, but presumably had his records released in Iran), Aref, Leila Forouhar, Giti, Hassan Khayatbashi, Googoosh, Shohreh, Afshin Maghaddam, and Kourosh Yaghmaei. The thick cd booklet (or lp sleeve) contains plenty of interesting notes on each of 'em, each artist/track boasting an informative blurb, lyric translations, and full-color photo. There's a comedian with an operatic voice (and unfortunate Hitler mustache), an openly gay poet/TV host/political scientist (assassinated in exile, presumably by agents of the Revolutionary regime), and many attractive songbirds with celebrated hairstyles....
It seems there's a "Rough Guide" for practically every kind of music from every inch of the world. Sort of like those "Idiot's Guide To..." or "... For Dummies" books which I have to admit are pretty darn helpful and informative, if somewhat insultingly titled. Luckily this compilation series isn't as unfortunately named, but is however less in depth and fulfilling. Certainly it's doesn't proclaim to be more than just an introductory tutorial, but although key figures are included like Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan and Mohammed Rafi, it really barely skims the surface of this amazing genre. So if you're just looking for a basic sampler history lesson in Indian film music, this might do ya fine, but for those looking to delve a little deeper, don't wait another moment to check out the following titles: Doob Doob O'Rama Volumes 1 and 2, Vijaya Anand's Dance Raja Dance, Bollywood Funk, and The Best Of Asha Bhosle. Although these titles focus a lot more on the "golden age" of Bollywood than the more recent decades, they're much more thorough collections.
The Pharaway Sounds label has released several in a series of compilations devoted to groovy Persian music from the '70s - "funk, psychedelia and pop from the Iranian pre-revolution generation" as the subtitle here has it. We've stocked 'em all as they came out, but this latest is the first we've gotten around to reviewing. We absolutely had to, after hearing the first track, "Helelyos" by Zia Atabi, with its weirdass scat vocals, impatient horn stabs, and seriously funky percussive beats. Damn. Just check out the sound clip and see if you're not sold too. There's lots of other treats on here, pop hits in Iran back in the day, from a variety of performers & songwriters, many of whom live in Los Angeles now; names include Farrokhzad, Shohreh, Shamaizadeh, Nooshafarin, Azita, Shahrokh, Beti, Sattar, Soli & Neli, Afshin, Maziar, and the aforementioned Zia. Sweeping disco strings and zany synthesizers, electric guitars and santurs, flutes and frame drums are all part of the East meets West melange that characterizes this delightful, dancey & romantic music.
Includes extensive liner notes in the cd booklet which give some background history about how this happenin' scene/music industry was swept away by coming of Khomeini. Additionally, info about each song/artist is provided, along with colorful graphics from some of the original record sleeves featuring many of the pretty ladies and mustachioed guys who sang these songs. Now, to work backwards through the other volumes - if this one's so good the others must be pretty cool too.
Bet you don't have any Black Hebrew soul in your record collection. We sure didn't! But leave it to the folks at the Numero Group to extract this amazing document of the diaspora of black folks from Chicago and Detroit who converted to Judaism and made the pilgrimage to Israel, and more precisely to a city located just west of the Dead Sea called Dimona. When in Israel it was the music and spiritual soul that many of these people brought with them from Chicago and Detroit that would become the soundtracks to their new lives. Musically this is very much in line with the best of spiritual soul and gospel of that era (early '70s) and you can hear the influence of many of their Chicago brethren (Pieces of Peace, The Dells, Earth Wind & Fire). But of course what makes this so cool is the totally unique context that these songs came out of. On a few tracks they even sing some lines in Hebrew and the amazing pictures and in depth liner notes of this very obscure movement and moment in time makes not only for a great record but an even more amazing historical document.
This is a nice little recording of temple music from South India. Basically your level of enjoyment of this recording depends on your threshold level for double reed instruments. Like the accordion, banjo and flute, double-reeds -- at least those in the higher octaves -- tend to put people in war camps. And while some may liken their sound to a kazoo or a bee caught in one's sinuses, their sound is truly unlike anything else. In fact, they're about as close as you can get to sounding like a fuzzed out electric guitar without plugging in. Which is why this music rocks so hard I suppose. When two of those nagasvaram get going at once, with their buzzing virtuosic melodic lines weaving together it's easy to see how this could induce ecstatic states in people. That and the fact that the guitarist's ego is replaced with a fear of god for incentive to perform. Periya Melam is the name of the particular ensemble that performs during various religious rituals, rites and festivals. The ensemble -- the instruments of which are considered "equals to the gods" -- used to be much more common throughout temples south of the river Krishna, but has declined in recent years. The instrumentation usually consists of two double reed oboes (nagasvaram and), two double headed drums (tavil) in which one head is played using the fingers and the other with a stick, metal castanets (talam) and a drone instrument (used to be another oboe, but is now commonly a harmonium or even an electronic instrument).
Gaining independence from France in 1804, Haiti was the first black republic to claim such from a white colonial government. It's also the only nation in the Caribbean whose music is completely free from western influence. That music, the complex drumming and accompanying call & response singing, is inseparable from the Vodou rituals which themselves come directly from Africa by the slaves that brought them to Haiti over four hundred years ago. Despite attempts by the Catholic Church to convert Haitians to Christianity, over fifty percent of Haitians still practise Vodou, often subverting the Catholic rites into Vodou. Vodou has even played a big part in the government, with dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier using the religian to instill fear into the hearts of Haiti's citizenry. He even dressed his private militia, the Tontons Macoutes, in uniforms resembling the Vodou spirit of peasant farmers and would often dress himself up in the likeness of Baron Samedi, the spirit of the dead. The singing and drumming on Spirits Of Life are a great document of a vital, flourishing and unique religion in this tiny, struggling and oft overlooked island nation. Comes with a nice 25 page booklet with liner notes and gorgeous photos.
Another incredible collection from Honest Jon's, this one a compilation of early music from Istanbul, all recorded in the early part of the twentieth century, and strangely enough, according to the liner notes, all captured out of a culturally ignorant quest to gather up as much 'popular' music as possible, with various representatives of European labels and companies, the foremost being the Gramophone & Typewriter Company, doing everything in their power to record as much music as possible, eventually looking to local contacts, with some of the most prominent musicians of the day being recorded in hotel rooms or whatever space could quickly be converted into a makeshift recording studio. The liner notes explain in great detail the trials and tribulations of competing companies, the musical scene at the time, and the various musicians and their music, and while most of these names are probably unfamiliar, many of the performers here were considered, at the time to be the foremost performers / entertainers / musicians in Istanbul.
Which is obvious listening to this music, even close to 100 years later, the sounds and songs here are so intense and dramatic, so passionate and utterly lovely, moving and inspired, all of the music here non religious, more folk and classical influenced, but still imbued with the same sort of spirituality, the same sense of inspiration, gorgeous flurries of Eastern sounding classical guitar, sweeping soaring vocals over almost American sounding blues, weeping strings, unfurling lush minor key melodies, incredibly complex vocals wrapped around equally intricate folk music, classical piano, gorgeous almost liturgical sounding crooning, the breadth of sounds, of instrumentation, the varied voices, the sound ranging from impossibly high fidelity, to scratchy, barely audible crackly wax cylinders, all the music linked by a common tradition, a sprawling sonic history in music, a glimpse into the past, and like all the most amazing music throughout history, a sound both timeless and of its time, so moving, so inspirational, and so utterly lovely.
The cd comes in an incredible hardcover booklike packaging, the lp is quite swank as well, both with extensive liner notes and loads of amazing photos.
Another triumph brought to us by Mississippi Records (via Tompkins Square who originally released this collection as a 3cd set we listed a while back!), this 3 volume collection is overflowing with 39 amazing songs (about 17 less than the cd set, but still...) from Ottoman-American artists who found themselves in the bustle of American life from 1916 right before America entered WWI until 1929, when things became a little more quiet during the Depression. Oh, and we're not just talking Anytown, USA, but specifically New York City, with most of these songs recorded on the island of Manhattan. Scores of inhabitants from Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Levant fled Europe and settled here, bringing forth a brilliant cross pollination of cultures which we can now enjoy as the treasures they are. Places like Little Armenia and Little Syria sat alongside a Greek neighborhood around 8th Avenue and 30th Street, and musicians would mingle in the cafes and streets while no doubt absorbing other elements of what the city had to offer. In the process, they developed something vibrant, new, and exquisitely beautiful.
Separated into the three volumes: Naughty Girl (Dances and Joys), I Wish I Never Came (Nostalgia, Yearning, & Pride), and Notes From Home (American releases of music from Ottoman emigres, some of these songs were actually recorded outside of the states), these compilations cover a vast range of the human experience while also focusing on culture-specific events like genocide, war, and travelling across the world to a strange new land.
Without exaggeration we can say that what labels like Tompkins Square (and Mississippi) do is important for all of world culture, and the detailed liner notes help to give a better understanding of these exotic sounds which can overwhelm with their beauty but become EVEN BETTER when you know something, even just an anecdote, about the performer. Most of these musicians are unknown names to us - an exception being Marika Papagika who we became acquainted with thanks again to Mississippi Records - with some in fact being listed as simply "unknown performers". While their names are lost to time, at least we still have these unbelievable sonic portraits of a rapidly changing moment in world history.
Another triumph brought to us by Mississippi Records (via Tompkins Square who originally released this collection as a 3cd set we listed a while back!), this 3 volume collection is overflowing with 39 amazing songs (about 17 less than the cd set, but still...) from Ottoman-American artists who found themselves in the bustle of American life from 1916 right before America entered WWI until 1929, when things became a little more quiet during the Depression. Oh, and we're not just talking Anytown, USA, but specifically New York City, with most of these songs recorded on the island of Manhattan. Scores of inhabitants from Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Levant fled Europe and settled here, bringing forth a brilliant cross pollination of cultures which we can now enjoy as the treasures they are. Places like Little Armenia and Little Syria sat alongside a Greek neighborhood around 8th Avenue and 30th Street, and musicians would mingle in the cafes and streets while no doubt absorbing other elements of what the city had to offer. In the process, they developed something vibrant, new, and exquisitely beautiful.
Separated into the three volumes: Naughty Girl (Dances and Joys), I Wish I Never Came (Nostalgia, Yearning, & Pride), and Notes From Home (American releases of music from Ottoman emigres, some of these songs were actually recorded outside of the states), these compilations cover a vast range of the human experience while also focusing on culture-specific events like genocide, war, and travelling across the world to a strange new land.
Without exaggeration we can say that what labels like Tompkins Square (and Mississippi) do is important for all of world culture, and the detailed liner notes help to give a better understanding of these exotic sounds which can overwhelm with their beauty but become EVEN BETTER when you know something, even just an anecdote, about the performer. Most of these musicians are unknown names to us - an exception being Marika Papagika who we became acquainted with thanks again to Mississippi Records - with some in fact being listed as simply "unknown performers". While their names are lost to time, at least we still have these unbelievable sonic portraits of a rapidly changing moment in world history.
Another triumph brought to us by Mississippi Records (via Tompkins Square who originally released this collection as a 3cd set we listed a while back!), this 3 volume collection is overflowing with 39 amazing songs (about 17 less than the cd set, but still...) from Ottoman-American artists who found themselves in the bustle of American life from 1916 right before America entered WWI until 1929, when things became a little more quiet during the Depression. Oh, and we're not just talking Anytown, USA, but specifically New York City, with most of these songs recorded on the island of Manhattan. Scores of inhabitants from Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Levant fled Europe and settled here, bringing forth a brilliant cross pollination of cultures which we can now enjoy as the treasures they are. Places like Little Armenia and Little Syria sat alongside a Greek neighborhood around 8th Avenue and 30th Street, and musicians would mingle in the cafes and streets while no doubt absorbing other elements of what the city had to offer. In the process, they developed something vibrant, new, and exquisitely beautiful.
Separated into the three volumes: Naughty Girl (Dances and Joys), I Wish I Never Came (Nostalgia, Yearning, & Pride), and Notes From Home (American releases of music from Ottoman emigres, some of these songs were actually recorded outside of the states), these compilations cover a vast range of the human experience while also focusing on culture-specific events like genocide, war, and travelling across the world to a strange new land.
Without exaggeration we can say that what labels like Tompkins Square (and Mississippi) do is important for all of world culture, and the detailed liner notes help to give a better understanding of these exotic sounds which can overwhelm with their beauty but become EVEN BETTER when you know something, even just an anecdote, about the performer. Most of these musicians are unknown names to us - an exception being Marika Papagika who we became acquainted with thanks again to Mississippi Records - with some in fact being listed as simply "unknown performers". While their names are lost to time, at least we still have these unbelievable sonic portraits of a rapidly changing moment in world history.
We are all quite excited about the cd release of Turkish Delights comp (though Byram's a bit irked 'cause he bought the original vinyl and now is faced with a cd version that adds 11 extra tracks!). In total, there's 26 tracks here, dating from 1965 to 1971,
Along with the new cd version, we now have more copies of the "Turkish Delights" LP (which was so hard to get when it first came out that we only ever had a handful and were never able to list it). 15 tracks on this baby instead of the 26 on the cd, but what you lose in bonus cuts you gain in, uh, vinyl. And the art looks better, we think.
Three little words guaranteed to get us all excited: Turkish psych comp. That's all it takes. (A fourth word, used in the title here, "Freakout", doesn't hurt either.) Compilations like Turkish Delights, Hava Narghile, and the Turkish installment of Love Peace & Poetry have all been staples here at AQ, and have turned us on to so many amazing bands like Mogollar, Ersen, and 3 Hur-el. Our only worry with a new Turkish psych comp is that it will redundantly duplicate tracks we've already got, but fortunately that's not the case with this one, only a few of the 18 tracks here had we heard before, with some of the artists being completely new to us. And, also, awesome!
Focusing solely on selected rare 45 rpm 7" singles releases, dating from the late '60s to 1980, this comp is evidence that it was a groovy decade in Istanbul for sure. Funky -and- folky (yes, often at the same time), these tracks incorporate all the fuzz guitar, ethnic instrumentation, percolating percussion, exciting rhythms, and soulful vocals we've come to expect from the Turkish psych scene. It's a mesmerizing mix, there's a lot of highlights here, we can't really mention 'em all, but just to give you an idea, the first track, by Okay Temiz, sounds almost like it could come from that soundtrack by Rockford Kabine we made Record Of The Week recently, a sultry and "exotic" instrumental groove with some wild whoopin' elements that remind us of a Jean-Claude Vannier production. Then there's the cinematic strings and quasi doomy-riffing of Erkin Koray's dramatic "Sev Digim". And Alpay's "Seni Dilenyorum" is one we'd play for a friend wondering what all the vintage Turkish psych fuss is about. If they didn't dig that, we'd feel real sorry for them.
In addition to those, the line-up of artists here includes Kardaslar, Cem Karaka, Apaslar, Beyaz Kelebekler, Ajda Pekkan, Sevil & Ayla, Baris Manco, Rifat Oncel, Ersen, Onder Bali, and Arif Sag. And fortunately, the deluxe digipack includes a thick 40 page booklet, full of liner notes about 'em all, along with original 45 sleeve art. Nicely done, as comps/reissues go. And on top of that, most of the other Turkish psych collections we mentioned at the top of this review are now out of print, so this will become a go-to comp for us in one of our favorite genres.
We're always saying we just can't get enough of that vintage Middle Eastern psych music, hence a sequel to last year's great Turkish Freakout comp is quite freaking welcome! Here 'tis, 17 more tracks from rare Turkish records (mostly 7" singles) of the seventies, by some artists we'd heard of, and plenty of others we hadn't. As with volume one, there's definitely lots of great tunes here we hadn't come across before! The lineup includes: Baris Manco, Edip Akbayram, Cem Karaca + Mogollar, Afet Serenay, Kerem Guney, Gokben, Gulcan Opel, Sevil and Ayla, Kamuran Akkor, Ozel Turkbas, Perihan, Sakir Oner Gunham, Sirin, and Kenan. Lush and lively stuff all of it, like belly dancing music taken to psychedelic extremes.
Amongst these tracks, you'll hear lots of lovely female singers, moody men too, and the rhythms of stately folk dances infused with FUZZ, with orchestral strings, electric saz, synth, indeed wild Moog madness, flutes and whistling, wah wah guitar and funky drum breaks, stuff that's groovy and spacey and exotically poppy. The usual in other words.
There's a thick 36 page booklet stuffed inside this digipack, one reason it's so thick is they devote a whole page to a full color reproduction of the single sleeve or lp jacket from which each of these tracks is taken. On the facing page, some commentary from the anonymous compiler.
If you look through the booklet, you'll no doubt notice Afet Serenay. She has two cuts on here, both from her 1978 full-length lp Bir Of Ceksem. So that album cover is reproduced twice, and that's cool 'cause she's worth a second look for her fashion sense alone, posing on the cover of her record wearing a colorful rainbow striped wool sweater/dress and matching legwarmers. Wow. Also, one of Serenay's tracks, "Maden Dagi", you might recognize from the beloved Selda's somewhat different version of the same tune (they're folk songs after all) on her album Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (aka Vol. 2). Likewise, the Edip Akbayram track here, "Mehmet Emmi" was also done by Selda.
Just like the first installment, worth freaking out over if you love Turkish psych - or any such international sounds - like we do. FYI, the gatefold double lp vinyl version we have now comes with a limited, bonus 7".
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
It's practically raining Mississippi Records around here these days, no complaints, though sometimes it can be difficult for us to focus on which ones we want to review first! Not too difficult in this case though, as What Remains Of Eden, released in conjunction with Mississippi's Canary imprint and the Change label, focuses on Middle Eastern recordings made in the late 1920s all the way up to the early 1950s, which we are always curious to hear more of, as these sounds are still so incomprehensibly beautiful and exotic to our ears. This album is a great companion piece to Tompkins Square's massive To What Strange Place: The Music Of The Ottoman-American Diaspora 3cd set, though unlike those recordings which were made by immigrants living in New York, the records represented here were imported to America by labels who in the midst of the Great Depression found this method more profitable than having to actually pay musicians working in America. The notes bring up this unique aspect of the compilation, as these songs weren't culled from records found in the Middle East but instead from records sold mainly to Christian and Jewish minorities in the U.S., thereby representing specific market tastes.
The music within came from the regions making up present-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, and the Ottoman roots are unmistakable. The deep spiritual nature of this region, home of the historical Garden of Eden, is reflected in each song, and anyone who has enjoyed previous Mississippi / Canary outings like the String Of Pearls compilation, Marika Papagika's The Further The Flame, The Worse It Burns and recent ROTW honoree Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, will find much to love. As always, highly recommended.
We'd been hearing about this for a while, the first collection from legendary Iranian psychedelic rocker Kourosh Yaghmaei, who spent much of his career literally forbidden from performing or recording. We initially thought we had never heard anything from Yaghmaei, until we realized that he was responsible for one of our favorite tracks, on one of THEE best compilations ever, Forge Your Own Chains, his "Hajme El Khali", a sultry, brooding ballad, all spidery melody, whirring organ, chiming guitar, and powerful emotional vocals, the song moving and intense and so darkly passionate. He also showed up on the great B-Music Pomegranates compilation, that track open the proceedings here, a gorgeous chunk of piano driven melancholy, dusted with psychedelic effects, but it's all about the vocals, gorgeous and intense, and the cool little guitar filagree, wild little tangles, or slowly unwinding melodies, and a little Ventures-y surfy twang (The Ventures were apparently Yaghmaei's favorite group), and so it goes, this is quickly becoming a new favorite, which is saying something, since there is really no shortage of killer lost psychedelic classics.
But there's something about these songs. The vocals obviously, but Yaghmaei's guitar playing is so distinctive, his love of the Ventures and that era of American rock evident, but the classic folk music of his Middle Eastern upbringing finding their way into his sound, the recordings raw and intimate, surprisingly lush, with some of the tracks reminding us of classic Bee Gees, all warm whirling orchestral pop, while others, are fuzz drenched rockers, all wah wah guitars and sultry sinister swagger, while still others are dreamy ballads, heartfelt and sweetly melancholy, but no matter the sound, every once in a while, Yaghmaei cranks it up and unfurls some FIERCE psychedelic guitar leads, Hendrixy and distorted and awesome, and similarly, the organ will emit gouts of crunchy buzz, often offsetting what is otherwise some dreamy jangle. There are definitely hints of Bollywood, and other Middle Eastern musics you've perhaps heard before, but Yaghmaei's sound is definitely all his own, and should for sure appeal to fans of Ethiopiques, Sublime Frequencies, Finders Keepers and the like.
Pretty much all the songs here are incredible, and then there's the story of Yaghmaei's life which is equally incredible, told in the liner notes in his own words, which according to the compilers is a symbolic gesture to the many years of silence he suffered, unable to speak out, perform or record. So great.
The double cd version comes in a cool hardcover book style packaging.
If you've been diggin' the vintage Turkish psych/pop of the Erkin Koray and Cem Karaca discs we've highlighted recently, here's something else for you, quite similar though it's from a bit further to the East... The title they've chosen for this collection would do as a review of it, in a nutshell: "Hip '70s Afghan Beats!" Indeed. Amhad Zahir was a popular Afghan singer, and these tracks, culled from his prodigious discography, are rife with emotive deep voiced crooning, exotic folk flourishes, and East-meets-West stylings (electric wah wah guitar, and tabla too!).
The liner notes (which could have done with an extra round of copy-editing, we're afraid) provide a brief biography of Zahir, who tragically was assassinated in 1979, at the age of 33, by Afghanistan's communist regime, on account of his political beliefs. Before his death, though, he had become hugely popular, and nowadays is apparently still considered a legend, one of Afghanistan's biggest recording stars. Of course, to us ignorant Westerners, he's quite obscure. We can only trust that the unnamed compiler has indeed chosen the "best of" Zahir's output; these tracks sound good to us, anyway! Infectious, hypnotic, moody, with groovy horns, traditional melodies, and reverb-heavy rhythms, it's all quite enjoyable.
Folk-psych masterpiece out of Teheran, Iran circa 1976. With incredibly rich instrumentation and orchestration as a backdrop, Pari Zangeneh's voice soars with such soft strength. We're reminded a lot of some of the amazing psych gems from Turkey that we've dug so much like Mogollar and Selda but with less funk in the mix and much more lush folk running through the sound. In fact, Zangeneh sounds quite a bit like a Persian version of Vashti Bunyan at times, albeit with a bit more bravado and color in her delivery. She is still performing all these years later, and while this record is now over three decades old it still sounds so timeless and compelling. We imagine modern day psych-folksters like White Magic, Espers, and Dungen would find tons of inspiration in these mystical and delightful sounds, we sure do!
This was originally released as a super limited cd-r, and people dug it so much we could barely keep it in stock. Now the fine folks at Bo'Weavil have reissued it as a proper cd, packaged in a gorgeous fold out thick paper sleeves with extensive liner notes and an insert printed with a brief history of Zecharia's life, the whole thing housed in a thick plastic sleeve. Still limited, to 500 copies this time, so not sure how long these will be around. Also included on the reissue are two bonus remix tracks!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in the Middle East, on a hot sweltering day, with the dust, the scorching sun, and all of that history surrounding you on all sides, letting that intensity overwhelm you and opening your ears to a wondrous world of beautiful and mysterious sounds? Well here it is! Recorded in Jerusalem in 1980 and previously only available as a homemade cassette and later as a cd-r until now, this is a whole disc of Zadik Zecharia furiously rocking the zorna, an instrument most of us had never even heard of until now!! Born in a small village in Kurdistan before moving to Israel in 1950, Zecharia has dedicated his life to playing the zorna (a traditional Kurdish instrument somewhat similar to a longer more narrow trumpet or Scottish bagpipe). This record doesn't let up for a single second. The moment it starts Zecharia is taken over by the power of his instrument and the fugue state he must descend into to elicit such amazing passionate sounds. You get the feeling that there is no time to pause, no time to think, no time to even take a breath.
When I (Irwin) had the amazing opportunity to be in the Middle East in 2000, I remember walking through street markets, standing on the border of Syria and Israel, feeling years of charged history, pain, and passion, right there beneath my feet, and all around me. Taking off my headphones I was immediately overtaken by the myriad of sounds baking in the desert heat. Those moments were magic, and it all seemed to come together perfectly, and for just a moment it felt possible to forget about hate, war, religion and politics. This record takes me back to that place more then anything I've ever heard. Like the best snake charmer records, the kind of music that grabs you by the ankles and sweeps you off your feet, this has the same hard hitting intensity, with an underlying energy that feels boundless and endless. If you've been to the store recently you've probably noticed the nonstop construction going on outside. So for hours at a time we've been hearing drilling and pounding and the sounds of asphalt being torn apart. When the Zecharia has been playing in the store, the combination of all that commotion and the wailing zorna has made for one of the most amazing high voltage drone drenched pounding creations we've ever heard. But even on its own, this record has the ability to take your body hostage, every listen literally forcing various parts of your body to break out in uncontrollable movement. The dola drum which accompanies the zorna helps create a simple backbeat that balances Zecharia's fiery melodic frenzies. A musical fire that you never want to see extinguished. Recommended with more exclamation points than we have room to print!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! etc...
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About a year ago we were completely floored by the cd release of a cassette recording made in Jerusalem circa 1980 of the intense and trance inducing zorna playing of Zadik Zecharia. His Kurdish Melodies On Zorna had the kind of fire and intensity that appealed not only to Middle Eastern music aficionados, but also noise freaks, drone lovers and experimental music-heads of all stripes. So when we heard that the Israeli label Something On The Road had compiled a remix cd of Zacharia's masterful record we were both intrigued and a little skeptical. We'll be the first to admit that most remix records tend to miss the mark, adding generic beats and kind of killing the original spirit of a work that we love. And the first couple tracks on this collection while ok weren't totally doing it for us but then...oh my god!!! after a few tracks things started to heat up FAST! While most records, especially compilations and remix albums, tend to be top heavy, this is in many ways quite the opposite. Things start off with a nice smoky Planet Mu almost dubstep kind of vibe and then as the record goes on the beats start to diminish in favor of drone and noise and buzz. We love how Something On The Road have such a good sense of continuity, mood and pacing, something most remix records completely ignore. We weren't familiar with most of the Israeli bands and DJ's involved in this record but now we will for sure try to seek out more music by the likes of Nemoi, Gal Tushia and David Ovadia. The one artist we were familiar with was Poochlatz an amazingly bleak and primitive noise project out of Israel who always whip up beautiful and chaotic doom & gloom! We love the tidal wave that erupts as this remix record unfolds. Like the best moments of Muslimgauze, this is Middle Eastern experimental electronica that resonates so strongly and does it's source material proud!
Ever thought of what it would be like to be in the middle east on a hot sweltering day with the dust, scorching sun, and history all around you while the intensity of the surroundings blasted in your ears? Well here it is! Recorded in Jerusalem in 1980 and only released as an independent cassette until now, the sounds of the zorna are rocked so furiously by Zadik Zecharia on this cd filled to overflowing with the relentless sounds of the zorna. Born in a small village in Kurdistan before moving to Israel in 1950, Zecharia has dedicated his life to playing the zorna (a traditional Kurdish instrument somewhat similar to a longer more narrow trumpet or Scottish bagpipe). This record doesn't let up for a single second. The moment it starts Zecharia is taken over by the power of the zorna and the demands that it puts on the player. You get the feeling that there is no time to pause, no time to think, no time to even take a breath. When I (Irwin) had the amazing opportunity to be in the Middle East at the turn of the millennium I remember walking through street markets, standing on the border of Syria and Israel, feeling my feet walk on so much high charged history, pain, and passion. Taking off my headphones to get overtaken by the myriad of sounds baking in the desert heat. Those moments where it all would come together and for just a moment you could be in that place and forget about hate, war, religion and politics. This record takes me back to the place more then anything I've ever heard. Like the best of snake charmer records that have grabbed you by the ankles and swept you off your feet this has that same hard hitting intensity with an undying energy that sounds as if it will never ever let up. If you have been to the store recently you have noticed that right outside there has been some nonstop construction going on in the streets and on the sidewalks. So for hours at a time we are hearing drilling and pounding and the sounds of asphalt being torn apart. When this has been playing in the store the combination of all that commotion has made for one of the most amazing high voltage drone pounding creations we have ever heard. And even on its own, this record has the ability to take you body hostage, as there is no way to listen without various parts of your body breaking out in uncontrollable movement. The dola drum which accompanies the zorna helps give a backbeat which keeps the frenzy of a fire that you never want to be extinguished. Recommended with thousands of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!etc.
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