We were in absolute buzzing raga drone, funk soul heaven when we learned that those amazing and totally fun vinyl-only releases in the Sitar Beat series had now been compiled onto a cd. Most of us were never lucky enough to get the lps but now we can get our sitar funk on all the same! Chances are if you've been in the store in the last couple weeks you've heard us playing this, as this is one of those rare records that every single one of us can't help but be in love with. '60s, '70s and early '80s Bollywood jams and Indian-influenced psych-grooves HEAVY on the sitar. R.D. Burman, Ananada Shankar, Asha Bhosle, Serge Gainsbourg, Klaus Doldinger just to name a few of the responsible parties East and West who will henceforth be making your parties way more fun!!! But be prepared for tons of questions when all your friends start asking you what it is you're playing. We've been fielding those questions for weeks, but we're more then happy to answer with a simple reply: "It's Sitar Beat!..." and before we can even finish our sentence said questioner is on his or her way out the door with a copy. We rest much easier at night knowing that we're doing out small part to spread these amazing soul stirring buzzy freak funk grooves far and wide, filling ears and shaking souls!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the first of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Christine Lebail, Agnes Loti, Christine Delaroche, Francoise Hardy and Les Petites Souris avec Pussy Cat. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the second of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Les Roche Martin, Liz Brady, Audrey, Les Twins and Cris Carol. These ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the third of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Les Roche Martin, Liz Brady, Christie Laume, Anne Kern and Ria Bartok. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah! Here is the fourth of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features four single-named gals Clothilde, Cleo, Celine and ZouZou. They're dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Compilations of vintage French pop have a way of blossoming up much to our delight, only to vanish without a trace just as quickly as they appeared. Well good news folks, we just got a bunch of new-to-us collections that have proven to have some serious staying power. Hurrah!
Here is the fifth of five volumes of the Sixties Girls series from Magic Records, France. Cup played all five back to back, and had a full-on giddy Francophone afternoon. This fine label has been reissuing music from the '60s for years now, and they've consistently done it up right! Each comp contains at least twenty tracks digitally remastered from the original master tapes and comes packaged with cover reproductions and liner notes. This one features Christine Pilzer, Elsa Leroy, Vetty and Elsa. The ladies are dishing out the sounds of kicky Ye Ye, dreamy lounge, sultry cabaret, perky go-go and sugary girl group pop. Sure to tickle you pink!
Psst, we've also gotten in a few titles by single artists of the pop and psych varieties such as Brigitte Bardot, Triangle, Les Variations and Pussy Cat. Mon dieu, we can't get enough!
Another new disc from Locust's Latitude imprint. This one, recorded by Yayehe Smon, documents a trip he and his brother took along with their father to Ethiopia. Being good documentarians they brought their recorders and started rolling tape (well, more likely they brought their mini-disc recorders and burned a lot of discs, but it doesn't slide off the tongue as well.) Five of the eight tracks here are from children and teens, some of them singing as they play in the streets, either spontaneously making up songs or singing a capella cover versions of local hits. The first track, sung by a nine year old girl, is reason enough to own the cd. She has to have the most insane vocal chords and singing technique in the world. We certainly haven't heard anything like it before. Imagine if Buffy Saint Marie (ie: super fast and intense vibrato) took up yodelling and you kind of get the idea. Except that she's singing this soulful Amharic tune with a melody that leaps all over the place. Never heard anything like it. The other songs by children, whether singing solo or in groups, are accompanied by fiddle. Of the non-children tracks, there's a nice solo flute piece performed by a blind beggar, a peasant singing as he threshes wheat, and one of a professional itinerant male/female duo with accordian accompaniment.
Interesting compilation of recordings from the 20's and 30's which have in common the Hawaiian steel guitar as their backbone. From as early as 1916 Hawaiian music had become an obsession not only in the U.S. but throughout the world, and by the 20's ukuleles and steel guitars were out-selling guitars for many manufacturers. What is documented here are recordings of Hawaiian influenced hokum blues, calypso, country, jazz, as well as straight up Hawaiian music, captured in France, Greece, China, Argentina and the U.S.
After being AWOL for a year or so, this longtime fave is now back in stock, and the timing is perfect since we've been raving about a bunch of similar comps of cool vintage French new wave/punk/electro stuff recently like Bippp and IVG and Des Jeunes Gens Modernes. If you liked those, you gotta check this out, 'especially if you're into the proggier side of things.
This one was kind of a sleeper hit when we first listed it. I mean, we knew it was a cool record, but boy did people like it. We sold a ton and then the label ran out. At last it's been repressed, so here it is again. Definitely recommended!
France. Synths. 1977-83. Intrigued? You should be. This comp, compiled by a couple of today's top trainspotting electronica mavens, highlights what are indeed some obscure, awesome French entries into the field of proto-techno. Richard Pinhas of Heldon we've talked about recently, also Metal Boys, and you might remember Ruth from a reissue a while back, but there's plenty of names here we're getting acquainted with for the first time: Nini Raviolette, Mathematiques Modernes, Kas Product, The (Hypothetical) Prophets, Moderne, The Droids... Sixteen tracks in all of sinister prog/pop electronics, droning ambience, Magmoid robotics, futurepunk, and sci-fi dance darkness. So young, so cold - so stylish.
Another fantastically curated collection of magical and mysterious and mostly unheard songs from Honest Jon's, these vintage recordings from East Africa, recorded between the years 1938 and 1957, and categorized as 'native records', in that this was music that was intended for sale to native Africans, not the white colonialists or various traders or laborers, and these recordings helped capture and preserve popular music, the various styles popular before the influence of imported sounds from abroad and various immigrants. These sounds were specific to various villages and represented many different languages and styles. The other cool thing about these performances, is that they were specifically by non professionals, since earning a living making music was nearly impossible, instead these were regular folks, who were often called upon to entertain, at weddings or parties, at markets or for various rituals. The liner notes, like all Honest Jon's liner notes, go into incredible detail, about the various styles of music, the difficulties in translating the languages, the musicians, the performances, the recording processes, it reads like a primer on East African music, and like it should be part of a college course, in fact, we often think smart schools would be snapping these guys up to teach courses in world music, but beyond the background, it's the sounds that count, and the sounds here are incredible, so strange and lovely and mysterious and at once warm and intimate and emotional and totally alien and fantastical.
The first track is the perfect example, a super hypnotic stretch of relentless vocalizing over a barely audible string melody, the sound distorted, the vocals more like testifying, it's not until the very end of the track where the vocals drop out that you can hear how strangely frantic the string playing really is. And from there on out, there's never a moment that's less that totally wonderfully lovely, whether the sound is super melodic and folky, or minimal and rhythmic, buzzy and droney, moody and emotional, we lack the vocabulary to truly describe these sounds, other to say that they move us, and that they're so absolutely beautiful, sometimes haunting and mournful, other times effusive and celebratory, always breathtaking.
The cd comes in a beautiful hardcover style book, with a massive booklet inside, filled with extensive liner notes and vintage photos. The vinyl version is spread out over two double lps, the first with the same title as the double cd contains all the music from the first disc, while the second, containing the music from the second disc, is titled Bellyachers, Listen!
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.
Here's a double cd compilation of Angolan shantytown pop from 1965-1975, with a similar lineup of artists as the "Angola '60s" and "Angola '70s" comps we've already been carrying: Artur Nunes, Os Kiezos, Urbano de Castro, Oscar Neves, Jovens do Prendo, Os
NOW AVAILABLE ON GATEFOLD VINYL, WITH A BONUS TRACK!!
So we've actually already had quite a few amazing compilations of '60s and '70s popular music from Thailand, including a whole bunch of discs from the infallible Sublime Frequencies label (Thai Pop Spectacular, Siamese Soul, Molam: Thai Country Groove, Shadow Music Of Thailand, etc., etc.), and also the Subliminal Sounds label's Thai Beat A-Go-Go series, but we were still super excited when we heard about the upcoming release of this new comp of vintage Thai tunes, 'cause it's been put together by Soundway, the UK-based label that also seemingly can do no wrong when it comes to international crate diggin'. Soundway is responsible for all those Nigeria Special comps, and the Ghana Soundz ones too, among other fine collections and reissues, most focused on music from Africa or Latin America. This is their first venture into Southeast Asia, as far as we know, and boy did they do the job well! A more lively, colorful comp could hardly be imagined. The compilers, who have spent hours and days on the ground in Thailand searching out vintage vinyl, know their stuff (their DJ night, "Bangkok Paradise", must be a blast).
Nineteen tracks, 66 minutes of music, ranging from yearning love songs to super groovy funk, all of it quite undeniably 'exotic' to our ears, so that even with Western psych and pop influences, incorporating surprise rock riffs, synths, and brass sections, it's most definitely music from Thailand, utilizing Thai folk traditions, sung in the Thai language, though some of it also reminds us of Bollywood stuff (which makes sense), or possibly the Ethiopiques series as well (a less likely connection there). We recognize a few of the artists' names from those other abovementioned comps, though they seem aware of what's been comped already and we're assured that most of the tracks here have never been released outside of Thailand before.
The subtitle doesn't say "leftfield" for nothing, this probably isn't the most typical mainstream Thai pop from the period, more like the hippest and freakiest, though often from quite popular artists, many revered to this day. Soundway treat us to some wonderfully eccentric picks, gems like Waipod Phetsuphan's "Ding Ding Dong", a song inspired by a dumb 1971 Italian sex comedy about prehistoric cavemen (and cavewomen) that was inexplicably a hit film in Thailand. And the spaced out lounge-jazz of The Viking Combo band's "Pleng Yuk Owakard" must be mentioned. Mindblowing. Walking bass, spooked out electric organ, maniacal vocals, loud shuddery chords, sudden percussion, woah it's a weird one, almost disturbing. Whichever DJ/collector first dug that one up must have been stoked. So much good stuff here, our point is, the treasures of vintage Thai pop are plentiful enough to require this comp, those that came before, and hopefully many more to come. You gotta be thankful when you think about it, without the efforts of labels like Sublime Frequencies, and Soundway, etc., we'd be missing out on so much incredible music that we now listen to on a daily basis, whether it be from Thailand or Nigeria or wherever.
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).
An explicit warning on the back cover admonishes us not to expect to hear any "Hawaiian guitars, ukuleles and the Hula" on this disc. Which is all fine and dandy, because in its stead we're treated to some exceptionally rare recordings that span the wide pacific ocean. In 1978 David Fanshawe flew from island to island, seeking out the music of the people who lived there and -- if the local governments allowed it -- recorded them. Fanshawe travelled to the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Western Samoa and Tahiti. From his travels he culled together twenty eight varied tracks, from the frenetic high speed drumming of the Cook Islands to the soft melodies of the Fangufangu Nose Flute. But most cherished on this collection are the beautiful choruses, both religious and secular, which sound like eerie inverted versions of an American Baptist gospel choir. In one love song, sung by a group of men gathered at a drinking club, the chorus is accompanied by the sounds of a woman pouring kava. Originally released in 1987 as "Island Music of the South Pacific".
From the liner notes: "South Sulawesi is remarkably rich in string music. Among the instruments are the kacapi (a two stringed, plucked lute), gambus (a plucked lute probably originating in Arabia), mandaliong (a keyed zither), and the violin. This album presents professional narravtive and lyric singing with kacapi from the Bugis, Makasar, and Mandar peoples, along with informal, private singing with kacapi from the Toraja and driving Bugis and Kajang instrumental tunes. Also from the Kajang comes the quite different music of the gambus. And as contrast to the plucked lutes, the album offers, from the Bugis, mysterious violin duets, a violin trio with singers, and a lively ensemble of violins, mandaliong, flute, kacapi, and singers."
Here's a disc we'd definitely recommend to those of you who love exploring the realms of hitherto unknown (we'd assume, pretty much) '60s and early '70s garage/psych bands from overseas. In this case, from Spain, which seems to be the land of hot reissue action lately. 23 tracks in total taken from rare 45s, ranging from poppy psych to heavy-duty hard rockers. There's lots of wild, fuzzed-out groovers here! Including the stompin', super-distorted but also totally bubblegum rockin' of Cafe Con Leche, whose "Land of Light" sounds like the Jackson Five run through a giant fuzz pedal. Other faves include the off-the-rails Deep Purplish bludgeon of Storm, Los Roller's Creamier-than-thou Spanish-language "Camino Cortado", and the raucous psychedelic R&B belted out by Clock, among others. Si senor, plenty to dig on this comp for sure. The booklet includes band photos, sleeve shots, and liner notes in both English and Spanish.
French import double cd of Indian music new and old. Disc one ("Traditional") features fifteen tracks from a bunch of doubtless well-known trad Indian artists. Of course Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan -- hey he's not Indian -- and Ravi Shankar are the only ones WE recognize. The selections are pretty cool with lots of wild vocal, tabla and sitar action. There's even some street sounds
As you've already figured out, this is the sequel to the Spirit of India 2cd comp reviewed above. Again we're presented with a disc of traditional material, and a second disc of "New Vibes" -- electronica takes on the sounds of India. Disc one's got Shankar and Khan again, and Trilok Gurtu and Shelia Chandra as well, plus also a bunch of other unknown-to-us artists, and is again pretty
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.
We instantly fell in love with the first volume of this series which introduced us to many new-to-us obscure mystical jazz artists that have since become some of our all-time favorites: Lloyd Miller, P.E. Hewitt, and Mor Thiam to name a few. While that installment focussed on American based African Heritage communities that rose up after the civil rights era, this latest installment takes us to Europe and focuses on a more progressive form of deep jazz throughout Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, England, as well as Eastern European countries. This time around, we're a bit more familiar with some of the names, though there are plenty of folks new to us. Of course there is British jazzman Michael Garrick who recently passed away prior to this release. The reissue of Garrick's Moonscape on Trunk records from a few years back was one of our favorite jazz reissues, so it's nice there is an awesome previously unreleased track here. Finnish Jazz pianist Heikki Sarmonto who also had a reissue on Porter records offers up a deep tribute to Coltrane and Duke Ellington that is akin to going to church, albeit, a church in Finland. A lot of tracks including Raphael's "Archangelo" have a more reverent orchestral / choral vibe than the tracks on the first volume did, and most are not quite as overtly groovy either. Yet this fits in with the post-Coltrane developments in Jazz in Europe at the time, with artists mining new forms and directions and not merely trying to ape American jazz idioms. That's not to say there aren't any groovers here, Dutch group Hans Dulfer and Ritmo Natural bring the Latin-tinged hotness to the core with "Candy Clouds part 2". This is some seriously deep dope!
Whether from Poland, American, Hungary, the UK, or France, there was a moment in time in the '60s and '70s when everyone making pop music was hoping to have a big hit in Germany. So even if they had NO idea what they were singing, they went into the studio hoping to tap into the lucrative German market and make it big auf Deutsch. Luckily so many of these tracks were also some of the most sophisticated, sassy and snappy pop songs being recorded in any language, or at least that's what this disc makes us think.
This comp brings together some of the totally shining moments in German-language pop from across the globe like France Gall, Barbara, Sandie Shaw, Paul Anka, Antoine, Kati Kovacs, AQ Hungarian favorites Illes, and a bunch more, amazing examples of some of the most fun and infectious pop for which fans of ye-ye delights and those In-Kraut sound collections will fall hard, for sure.
There's a similar compilation we received recently, called Parlez Vous Pop?, that's essentially the French equivalent of this collection. Unfortunately, other than a couple tracks, that comp was much more suited for coffee house background music, but THIS ONE we can enthusiastically recommend!!
Originally released as part of a cd / dvd / book combo, this incredible musical document, compiled by photographer/filmmaker Olivia Wyatt on a recent trip to Ethiopia, is now available sans dvd and book, as a super deluxe (and yeah, of course very limited) double lp!
Staring Into The Sun was planned to coincide with a music festival - which the government abruptly cancelled for fear of the musicians being exploited. So instead, Wyatt travelled into the bush, to compile a sonic/visual travelogue of the music and musicians, the people and places of the various tribes of Ethiopia, and it's of course breathtaking. The music, which is obviously the focus here, is heady and hypnotic, joyous and emotional, the sounds varying dramatically from tribe to tribe, but music being ubiquitous, weddings, ceremonies, rituals, drawing water from the well, on television, in living rooms, very rhythmic, mostly vocal driven, but with lots of hand clapping, wildly bowed stringed instruments, vocals chanted, shouted, call and response, super mesmerizing, many of the tribes utilize whistles and panpipes, and the music they make is incredible, otherworldly and impossibly lush, sounding like some modern 20th century classical composition in many cases, while actual bands do rock out occasionally, and get surprisingly soulful and funky. A compilation like this must have been so impossible to put together, how on earth to whittle down what must have been days of recordings to just an hour? But the tracks chosen are amazing, and make us want to hear so much more.
Even minus the visuals, so incredible, and easily some of our favorite Sublime Frequencies sounds so far for sure.
Housed in a super deluxe, ultra heavy full color gatefold sleeve, featuring reproductions of some of Wyatt's striking Polaroid photos...
Subtitled "17 A-Go-Go Ultrarities From the 60's Singapore and South-East Asia Underground", this comp fairly smokes in a psychedelic pop haze. Covering standards like "Buttons and Bows", but mostly playing by-the-numbers originals, bands like October Cherries, Rosnah and the Siglap Five, Ronnie Ong, and Naomi & the Boys (playing a great Peter Thomas number) played a mixture of surf, soul, r&b, and plain ole psych pop. A couple of the groups here even went to #1 in their home countries. Fuzz guitar! The tracks featuring girl singers sound just like the Ultra Chicks French girl group comps, thus testifying to the universal appeal the rock music of the day held for young people the world over.
On transparent blue vinyl. Dutch import. ----* ----* Also New In Stock, Reviews Coming Soon : ----* 400 BLOWS "Black Rainbow" (Tone Capsule) cd 11.98 ANZELLOTTI, TEODORO "Leos Janacek" (Winter & Winter) cd 16.98 AROVANE "Icol Diston" cd 16.98 ATMOSPHERE "God Loves Ugly" (Fat Beats) cd 16.98 BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Actuel Sessions" (Fuel 2000) cd 12.98 BREAD LOVE AND DREAMS "s/t" (Hugo-Montes) cd 17.98 CANDIRIA "The Coma Imprint" (Lakeshore Records) 2cd 17.98 CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND "Magnetic Hands" (Viper) cd 19.98 CARDIACS "A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part Two" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part One" (Alphabet) cd 14.98 CASSERLEY, LAWRENCE "The Edge Of Chaos" (Sargasso) cd 14.98 CERBERUS SHOAL / HERMAN DUNE "The Whys And Hows Of Herman Dune and Cerberus Shoal" (North East Indie) cd 9.98 CHERRY, DON "Blue Lake" (BYG / Toho / Get Back) 2lp 19.98 CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY "s/t" (Rhino) cd 16.98 COMETBUS "Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus" (Last Gasp) book 14.95 FELDMAN, MORTON "Complete Works For Two Pianists" (Alice Musik Produktion) cd 14.98 FORBIDDEN PLANET "(OST)" (Moving Image Entertainment) lp 21.00 FUNGAL HEX "s/t" (Ministerstva Kultury Cr) cd 11.98 FURSAXA "s/t" (Ecstatic Peace) lp 13.98 GORILLAZ "Spacemonkeyz versus Gorillaz - Laika Come Home" (Astralwerks) cd 16.98 HEADLANDS BAND "California" (Headlands Band Music) cd 11.98 HERMANO "...Only A Suggestion" (Tee Pee) 2cd 14.98 HIDDEN "Spectral Magnitude" (Red Stream) cd 11.98 HURLEY, MICHAEL "Blueberry Wine" (Locust) cd 14.98 INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ VS. DA KLAMZ UV DETH "Furious Ostrich Tracks" (Asphodel) lp 7.98 MISERY INDEX / COMMIT SUICIDE "Split CD" (Willowtip) cd 12.98 NARGAROTH "Black Metal Ist Krieg" (No Colours) cd 14.98 NARGAROTH "Hervstleyd" (No Colours) cd 14.98 OMIT "Rejector" (SySecular) cd-r 9.98 ON FILLMORE "On Fillmore" (Locust) cd 14.98 ORTHRELM / TOUCHDOWN "Split" (Troubleman) cd 12.98 PARTON, DOLLY "Halos & Horns" (Sugar Hill) cd 17.98 REINHARDT, DJANGO "Djangology" (RCA Victor) cd 16.98 RITUAL CARNAGE "The Birth Of Tragedy" (Osmose) cd 14.98 RJD2 "Deadringer" (Definitive Jux) cd/2lp 17.98/17.98 ROWE, KEITH & OREN AMBARCHI "Flypaper" (Staubgold) cd 14.98 SHIOMI, MIEKO "A Musical Dictionary of 80 People Around Fluxus" (? Records) cd 22.00 SPUNK "Den Overste Toppen Pa En Blamalt Flaggstang" (Rune Grammofon) cd 15.98 STARS AS EYES "Important Youth Movement / People Kill People" (Tigerbeat6) 7" 4.98 TABLA BEAT SCIENCE "Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove" (Axiom) 2cd 17.98 TATSUYA, YOSHIDA "Magaibutsu" reissue w/ bonus tracks (Review Records) cd 13.98 THORNSPAWN "Wrath Of War" (Osmose) cd 14.98 TROLLHEIM'S GROTT "Bizarre Troll Technology" (Woodcut) cd 14.98 V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4" (PCP) cd 14.98 V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5" (PCP) cd 14.98 VINTERSORG "Visions From The Spiral Generator" (Napalm) cd 14.98 WALDAMSEL / FOREST BLACKBIRD "s/t" (Natural Sound / Wergo) cd 18.98 WARLORD "Rising Out Of The Ashes" (Atrheia) cd 14.98 WOLF EYES "Fuck Pete Larsen" (Wolf Eyes) lp 14.98 ZORN, JOHN "Filmworks XI" (Tzadik) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Truely unique recordings of Cumbias, Tamboritos, anad Mejoranas. Starts off reasonably enough, but just as you relax, you're treated with a 'grito': what seems like a version of kecak performed by imitating dogs barking. And later, a group of drummers are accompanied by several choruses of women singing call and response from what sounds like opposite ends of town.
MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!
One of two new Mississippi releases we're listing this week, both incredible additions to the already impossibly impressive Mississippi catalog, and as we often mention, there are plenty of people who buy every single Mississippi release, regardless, and most aQ-ers definitely fall into that category, but really, any one at all interested in world music, and we're not talking the Starbucks / Paul Simon variety, we're talking real world music, the sounds you here on the streets and in the homes played by real people in real places all over the world, if that stuff holds any interest for you, then pretty much every single Mississippi release is essential, and without fail, each one will open up a whole new world of sound, and reveal all manner of musical magic to jaded Western ears.
The tracks here were recorded in Indonesia in the late seventies by a field recordist named Jack Brody, and this sampling offers up lots of the different flavors of street musicians at the time, displaying the various influences from Indian Bollywood music, American rock and roll as well as traditional Javanese folk musics, all wound into these unique and personal sonic expressions. The sound seems to be mostly vocal driven, with the majority of the vocalists female, the voices high and clear and soaring, lots of call and response and unique harmonies, strings buzz over simple hand drums and minimal percussion, many of the tracks here are simple and spare, but others are impossibly lush. And as these are all recorded on the streets, the music is peppered with the sounds of life, cars and buses, kids playing, adults talking, babies crying, horns honking. There are a couple of tracks featuring male vocalists, one in particular stands out, the vocalist singing in a super raspy Popeye/Tom Waits voice, over just intricate drumming, his vocal delivery rapid fire and super dexterous, the result dizzying and exhilarating. We could go track by track, but every song here is a gem, and like most Mississippi releases, we find ourselves spinning this over and over and over and getting totally lost in these incredible sounds.
Housed in a super heavy old school tip-on style jacket, and includes a massive booklet filled with liner notes on the music, the region, the performers, including lyrics and actual musical notation, as well as lots of photos and a bonus 7"!
The 19 tracks on Streets Of Lhasa were recorded by Zhang Jian, a member of Beijing, China's fm3 arts collective during a visit to Tibet in August 2003. Jian would hire the musicians for an entire day, paying them in cash and food, and record their performances in the relatively quiet surroundings of a city park. Most of the recordings are of either solo performers (singing a cappella, or accompanying themselves with a lute or fiddle) or in small ensembles. Many of the performers are children, often singing with their parents. Particularly cute is the father / son duet (with fiddle accompaniment). In addition to these private performances, Jian also made several recordings of ambient sounds and music on the streets of Lhasa: market sounds, prayer bells, children playing, trains, and a 12 minute track of monks heatedly discussing scripture and apparently clapping to puncuate their arguments, though the clapping sounds almost like a crackling fire. The result is a picture perfect audio post card to a place most of us will likely never visit.
All you Mississippi Records fanatics should just stop reading now and click on the ADD TO CART button, because there's just no question that you are going to want, nay NEED this! Baltimore-based record store owner and record collector Ian Nagoski (who also compiled the excellent Black Mirror compilation for Dust-To-Digital) has put together another stunning collection of vintage 78 recordings from around the globe spanning between 1918-1952: Tanbur improvisations from Turkey, Vietnamese classical chamber music, Greek cabaret, Jamaican rural folk, Serbian dance, Spanish prayer song, Romanian Jewish mourning song, Italian opera, Highland Music of West Java; Arab classical music, Zuni Indian harvest chants, Ukrainian Hutzel music, Hindustani classical singing and Armenian folk music. Whew! It's a whirlwind tour of the world in beautiful, lonely and sometimes devastating bursts, colliding folk and popular styles, upper and lower classes, the famous and the obscure in a captivating melange of audio wonder. And apparently, there's more to come as this release also marks the debut of Nagoski's Canary Records imprint dedicated to International musical obscurities and the stories that hide within. Extensive liner notes with pictures included. Amazing!!
Okay, we *might* be able to convince Fire Breathing Turtle to print up more copies of these; but then again we might not. So be warned about the potential paucity of these Sweet Hawaiian Dreams!
This short-run cd-r compilation comes by way of Jeffery Taylor - known to some as half of the Climax Golden Twins, to others as one of the curators of that impeccable Victrola Favorites anthology, and to those in Seattle as the bearded fellow behind the counter at Wall Of Sound Records. Pretty sure that all of these tracks come from Taylor's collection of '78s, dating from 1913-1936. This is a time period that predates the 'golden era' of Hawaiian music, when the territory became a state in 1959 and the rest of America became enthralled with the exotica of the Pacific Islands. Given the Victrola gramophone medium of these recordings, the fuzz and hiss of surface noise plays heavily throughout the compilation, but ukulele and slide guitar do their best to push through that pleasant patina of antiquated static. The signature slack-key sound of Hawaiian music is found throughout, the notes bent into languid, almost lazy melodies. There seems to be an equal number of instrumentals and vocal tunes, with the vocalists adopting a wide range of more continental singing styles, from the barbershop harmonic stylings of Sol Hoopii And His Novelty Five to the belting croon of the South Sea Islanders. Like we mentioned from the onset, very limited, but a worthy addition to all of those Sublime Frequencies anthologies which we have loved for so many years.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Are you a fan of those great "Ultrachicks" compilations of female French '60s pop? Do you feel like your turntable has been missing out on the fun? Well, here's a vinyl-only comp of similar cute Francophone chanteuses (Stella, Cleo, Charlotte Leslie, Berthe, Delphine, Liliane, and many others mainly with one nme only) circa 1965-1968...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This is the second in the vinyl only series of 60s French girl groups. This the perfect vinyl companion the sporadically in-print "Ultra Chicks" CDs.
It's impossible not to have a soft spot for the breezy, sassy and sensual sounds of '60s French Pop. We can never get enough, so it was an exciting day when the second volume of Swinging Mademoiselles came our way, as the first volume has become one of those records we've played in the store countless times over the years. With its focus on the lovely ladies who delivered infectious gems of Gallic pop in the '60s, volume deux brings the goods once again with songs that treat our ears to such saucy and sophisticated delights. We love how this collection has a nice selection of the more seductive side to sixties French Pop. Of course there are some total hip-shakers and party tracks on here but this collection is really so perfect for a long ride with the windows down, or lounging by the pool with refreshing libations or just laying in bed on a lazy Sunday morning with that someone special by your side. Filled with so many of the era's greats: Jacquelin Taieb, Cosette, Zouzou, Pussy Cat. Brigitte Bardot, Clea, etc. These were the people and sounds that would inspire some of the best pop music that would come decades later from folks like Stereolab, Belle & Sebastian, Broadcast, Saint Etienne and El Perro Del Mar. OoooLaaaLaaaa what a perfect end of summer treat!
'60s French girl group compilations come in and out of print so sporadically that you've gotta nab 'em when you see 'em 'cuz you never know if they might vanish the next week. Have to say, we haven't had much problem with the quality of the comps we've carried thus far in this delightful genre, and Swinging Mademoiselles maintains the standard already set by long out-of-print cds such as Girl Group Power, Histoires de Filles: Quebec 60's Go-Go Music and the Ultra Chicks series. Sassy, perky fun!
The first in a new series of vinyl only releases from Touch, this is an amazing document of Javanese and Balinese sounds, originally released as a cassette in 1983. A seamless collage of sounds edited into a dizzying sonic travelogue by Touch head honcho Jon Wozencroft, along with BJ Nilsen of Hazard, this collection is essential for fans of Sublime Frequencies and Mississippi Records. Heavy on the gamelan, obviously, the record flits from clanging metallic percussion, to buzzing burbling jaw harp, from super intense vocals, featuring some deeply moving, almost liturgical sounding call and response, in the background of many of these recordings, you can hear children laughing and playing, bustling markets, cars driving by, shouting and various voices, the music in the foreground is wild and chaotic one second, dark and contemplative the next, slowly bleating horns, unfurl a playful melody, before the sound eventually slips into something more modern, still gamelan driven, but in the form of some wistful Indonesian balladry, before finally finishing off in a blaze of super distorted almost free jazz sounding near psychedelic gamelan freakout, the sounds super saturated, and buzzing and crumbling around the lilting melodies, and hypnotic rhythms. Fantastic!
Housed in an orange-stickered plain white sleeve, and most likely fairly limited.
The second and only other disc in the Explorer series to feature the music of the South Pacific focuses on Tahiti. While -- unlike the previous South Pacific disc -- there are hulas on this collection, the author of the liner notes aims to inform that the music of Tahiti is not so much about love and easy living as the stereotypes would have everyone believe, but about war and death and a history of war and death that goes back centuries. Before the Europeans came with their diseases (not to mention their "god" and tourism) to control the island's overpopulation problems, the islanders themselves used to stage battles periodically when population problems became overwhelming. This is part of the wonderfully biting liner notes that are included with this collection. The music is just plain wonderful though, and without knowing what the people are singing about (and unfortunately the documentation for each song is lacking) you would think that all the songs are about love and easy lifestyles, fast European sports cars and scantily clad beautiful young women (see album cover.) About half of the tracks here are choruses, mostly mixed choruses of men and women, another 25% are hula or other guitar / ukulele songs and the other 25% are either a capella voice or percussion and then there's one lonesome nose flute track aptly titled "I Am Alone" (at least I think it's a nose flute.) Recorded in 1968 by Jane Sarnoff.
Fans of The Steps, Ho: Roady Music From Vietnam and fans of instrumental exotica weirdness take note. We are happy to have chanced upon this brand new collection of gems from the cracks of music history. According to the notes on the back of the case, the
We're not sure just when we got this Trikont compilation in, but somehow it slipped under our radar and never got listed. That oversight will be redressed presently. For this collection Trikont has assembled an impressive collection of recordings of Bohemians, Moravians and Germans living in South Central Texas playing the music they love most: Polkas, Waltzes and Schottisches.
Now on vinyl!! Here's some of what we said when we reviewed the compact disc version, though as before the programming of the cd and vinyl versions differ somewhat, but even if the track list isn't quite the same (the cd had 5 more songs), the general thrust of the following review still stands:
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best - though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock, but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a '70s Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! 2+2=5, THE "Into The Future..." (Spittle) cd 21.00 ARCHITEUTHIS REX "Dark As The Sea" (Utech) cd 14.98 AUBRY, GILLES "s6tr8" (Winds Measure Recordings) cd 12.98 BASSHATERS "Harsh Lovers Sick Zoo" (Yik Yak) cassette 5.00 BOSSE-DE-NAGE "s/t" (Flenser) cd 9.98 DADAWAH "Peace And Love" (Wild Flower) cd/lp 16.98/24.00 DIVORCE "s/t" (Optimo) 10" 13.98 DURUTTI COLUMN "LC" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 DURUTTI COLUMN "The Return Of The Durutti Column" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98 ECHOSPACE "Liumin" (Modern Love) 2cd 15.98 ENDTABLES, THE "s/t" (Drag City) cd 14.98 FEROCIOUS FEW "Juices" (Birdman) cd 12.98 FNS "S/t" (Miasmah) cd/lp 15.98/19.98 FOOT VILLAGE "Anti-Magic" (Upset The Rhythm) lp 17.98 HEALTH "Disco 2" (Lovepump United) cd 14.98 JJ "N� 3" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 KEEPAWAY "Baby Style" (Lefse) lp 14.98 KNIGHT SCHOOL "Revenger" (Make A Mess) lp 14.98 MAGIC BULLETS "s/t" (Mon Amie) lp 14.98 MAX PLANCK "Kill The Pain" (Buried By Time And Dust) lp 32.00 NEON "Oscillator" (Spittle) cd 21.00 NORTH SEA, THE "Bloodlines" (Type) lp 19.98 PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE "Say No To Love" (Slumberland) 7" 5.98 PERNICE BROTHERS "Goodbye Killer" (Ashmont) cd 10.98 ROEDELIUS "The Diary Of The Unforgotten" (Bureau) cd 17.98 ROSE, JACK & GLENN JONES "The Things That We used To Do" (Strange Attractions) dvd 20.00 ROSE, JACK WITH D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX "Ragged And Right" (Thrill Jockey) cd ep/12" 11.98/14.98 SWORDS & SANDLES / VHOLTZ / WOMAN'S WORTH / ETTRICK "s/t" (self released) cassette 5.00 TRANS AM "Thing" (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98 URAL UMBO "s/t" (Utech) cd 14.98 V/A "Clicks And Cuts 5.0" (Mille Plateax) cd 17.98 V/A "Head Over High Heels: Strong & Female 1927-1959" (Trikont) cd 17.98 V/A "Karl Rove: Courage And Concequence" (Seismic.Wave) lp 14.98 V/A "Milano New Wave 1980-83" (Spittle) cd 21.00 V/A "The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol.II Ethnic Music Classics; 1925-48" (Outernational) 2lp 31.00 V/A "To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings From Istanbul" (Honest Jons) 2cd 26.00 V/A "Zulu Stomp!! South African Garage Beats!!" (Nosmoke) cd 25.00 VANGELIS "Who Killed The Dragon? (The BYG Sessions)" (Finders Keepers) 12" 14.98 WE LIKE CATS "Proper Eats" (Marriage) lp 13.98 WINDSOR FOR THE DERBY "Against Love" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 ZUMPANO, JASON "Room And Mansion" (Inflight) cd-r 14.98 _______________________________________________________________________ Please place your order via our website. [1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings! [2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive. [ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.
This all-time AQ favorite is finally available on vinyl!
From the label that brought us Dungen, Parson Sound and Abner Jay comes a crazy collection of Thai Go-Go. We're still reeling from the double whammy of the two volume Cambodian Rocks releases and the excellent Cambodian Cassette Archives and now this. Though to be fair to the latter, this release might not necessarily cater to all the same fans. The music here is more likely to appeal to fans of obscure 60's pop and garage than say, fans of off kilter pop influenced Thai music. In fact, much of what's on this disc would be difficult to place within any particular country, let alone region of the world through listening alone. Apparently the musicians here were first and foremost concerned with reproducing an accurate replica (there are many overt copies included here) of popular American music of the day. This was, after all, during the Vietnam war and plenty of American servicemen were stationed in Thailand and American music was being broadcast far and wide for their benefit. That said, there are still plenty of great rocking vocal and instrumental tracks here and a few nutty renditions of classics. Of note is The Son Of P.M.'s version of the "James Bond Theme", which gets a little spicing up with Thai drums and The Cat's "Meow" or Louise Kennedy's "Poo Yai Lee", either of which would have been an excellent addition to the Ultra Chicks compilations. There's also a version of Hank Williams' "Kaw Liga" with augmented Native American drumming and a super upbeat bridge, and Johnny Guitar's "Klongyao", probably the best representation of Thai-Western pop hybrid on the collection. Definitely stick this one out to the end when you pick it up though, as it seems heavily weighted with the best tracks in the second half.
Hot on the heels of the first volume, Subliminal Sounds has released this second collection of Thai garage beat pop go-go madness. And we have to say it's better than the first. Much better (and cheaper too). Like the first volume the tracks here are all distinct replicas of popular music from the Occident of the late sixties. Some notable covers include the King's "All Shook Up", Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna". What makes this collection stand out for us though is both the inclusion of a wider range of severely demented production aesthetics and a great deal more songs that, vocally, sound more Thai. The album starts off with a bang to Viparat Piengsuwan's "YoK YoK" with chipper plosive vocals that could only come from Thailand. So cute it'll make you barf. Not skipping a beat we're led into Surapon's "Ding Dong", which sounds like a seriously fucked up deconstruction of the "Surfing Bird". A little later Waipot Petsuwan's "Mia Chaa" throws a monkey wrench into our expectations with a dreamy ellyptical vocal line -- that sounds reminiscent of Mo Lam -- over an otherwise standard garage beat tune, instantly transforming it into a classic. Then, of course, there's some demented production like excessive reverb in the oddest places and a strange Thai version of the Chipmonks that'll have you spitting your lunch out your nose. Highly recommended!
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best -- though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock (including "Hang On Sloopy" and another Elvis number "Heartbreak Hotel"), but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. But the real gems on this collection are two tracks -- "Thai Boxing" and "Siamese Boxing" -- by Jiraphand Ong-Ard which nearly bookend the anthology and completely fill their own void of strange rock. Both tracks pay homage to Muay Thai boxing and raam muay -- the traditional music that accompanies boxing events. The music of raam muay features a Thai reed instrument that sounds like a kazoo run through a Marshall amp. Both the tracks use this music as an odd bridge mixed in to them -- almost arbitrarily -- in such a way that they sound bi-polar. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a 70's Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well!
Another killer installment in the Sublime Frequencies series of wondrous and fantastical musics from around the world, and although we've probably proclaimed this about past volumes, this just may be the best one yet. The hardest thing about enjoying strange musics from other lands, though, is realizing that the music only seems strange to us. And with that realization comes a responsibility, c'mon, the pop music popular in the US must seem just as strange to folks in other countries, Avril Lavigne, Britney, every singer from American Idol, or how about Weird Al? So you sort of have to take into account that knowing the language, and growing up listening to the various popular musics of a region, would probably help to contextualize the strange hybridized pop music that we love to listen to and that is such a cornerstone of this series. Imagine how different it would be listening to a band like Circle if you understood Finnish. Might not seem so crazy. But that's part of the joy, it does sound crazy, and wild and weird, and wonderful, and there's certainly nothing wrong with being fascinated by seeming strangeness of the music, or enjoying the lyrics as just another instrument since we don't speak the language, and digging the seemingly bizarre juxtapositions, as long as we respect the heritage and the makers of this music that gives us such pleasure. And we do.
And holy crap does this latest installment give us all kinds of pleasure. It -is- wild, an awesomely confusional mix of Molam, Bollywood, Ethiopian groove, funk, soul, American pop and surf rock, all tangled up into amazing shapes, and peppered with killer hooks, amazing vocalists, bizarre production techniques, but most of all amazing amazing songs. The sort of songs that get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming to yourself, wondering if it was something you heard on the radio or something that was playing in some store you were just in, then realizing it was actually some seventies Thai pop song!
We knew this collection was going to be amazing before we even got to the music. Past installments in this series focusing on Thai music were already among our favorites, the photos are awesome, and check out some of these song titles: "There Are Many Handsome Men Out There", "You Should Die By Bullets", "Drinking Whiskey Until I'm Blurred", "Look Whose Underwear Is Showing", "Monthly Wife", "Uncle Dee Is A Drunk"...
And the music is just as fun and funky, crazy and catchy. A killer collection of Thai disco classics, music from Thai films, a bunch of stone cold pop gems, some unknown, some by Thai superstars, and a totally tweaked version of "The Night Chicago Died".
Some of our favorites are "Dance Of The Ngeo" by Johnny Guitar, a bad ass surf guitar jam, that begins with some strange trash can percussion, that surfaces again and again throughout, as well as some awesome fuzz organ, all making it sound like the coolest weirdest track Joe Meek never recorded, "You Should Die By Bullets" by Chailai Chaiyata & Sawanee Patana, a super funky slab of tripped out Bollywood style disco, with some truly damaged alien synths, and some amazing vocals, "We Both Think We're The Best" by Sangthong Seesai, a seasick, slithery groove, all blown out percussion, fuzzy organ, really grimey and groovy and sultry sounding, "Long Time No See" by Generation, a badass Barney Miller wah guitar groove, strutting and sexy, with a super strange totally blown out cymbal that gives the track a really strange shimmer, "Wise Old Man" by Gawao Siangthong, a funky horn flecked funk workout, that almost sounds like the Thai version of an Ethiopian Grooves track,
there's even a weird breakdown in the middle of the song, where the two vocalists joke and banter, before launching right back into the song, "Title Theme from Live From The Rocket Festival" by Chalermpon Malakum, a space age seventies sitcom soundtrack groove, with weird warbly synths, funky horns, and a killer psychedelic guitar solo, and maybe our favorite (although it's practically impossible to choose), "Papaya Salad Merchant, by Onuma Singsiri, a slow burning shuffle, moody and brooding, with super sultry vocals, a wicked Morricone-ish Spaghetti Western twang guitar, some subtle waka waka rhythms, and a main melody to die for.
It's hard to describe any of these tracks without the word 'groove', as the above would seem to demonstrate, and that's because almost all of these tracks are indeed groovy, full of funky horns, wah wah guitars, bouncy bass lines, wild percussion, wicked drumming, and an incredible array of vocals and vocalists... but even the tracks that aren't inherently groovy, still seem to groove somehow... and even though we picked our favorites above, the more we listen, the more -every- song here is becoming one of our favorites... so so great!
Unlike a lot of other titles in this series where the sources were dubbed tapes or unlabeled recordings or radio broadcasts, each track here is credited to the performer (and hopefully, we assume, the performers will see some of the profits this time around?), each with it's original Thai title and translated English title, as well as what album the song is taken from, and there are liner notes from Sublime Frequencies head honcho (and Sun City Girl) Alan Bishop and frequent SF contributor Mark Gergis.
Another fantastic collection of far out seventies South East Asian grooves, from rock to garage to surf music, once again HEAVILY influenced by American and European music of the time, although this time we do in fact mean HEAVILY, as this collection features various hard rocking jams from Asia, recorded in the seventies, all songs and sounds that lean toward the heavy, the psychedelic, the metallic even, with lots of fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, distorted horns, throbbing basslines, not to mention some wholesale borrowing from popular rock songs of the time, all given a distinctly Asian sonic makeover, mixing traditional folk vocals with thick super distorted guitar crunch, or wrapping wild psychedelic guitar freakouts around funky grooves and more traditional sounding vox.
This strange hybrid is probably best exemplified by the killer opener, Sroeng Santi's "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng", which essentially swipes that oh so iconic riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", without doing much to it at all, but then mixes it with a dark slithery low slung verse, all broody and fuzzy and a little bit sinister, with those totally irresistible Thai vocals, which as we've mentioned before, most of us heard for the first time via the Butthole Surfers' track "Kuntz", in fact, "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng" sorta sounds like an "Iron Man" / "Kuntz" mash up, and it RULES.
Then there's Jalwal, Annie & Geerasak's "Klug Tum La", which is essentially a Thai version of Chicago's "25 or 6 To 4", that immediately recognizable riff, SERIOUSLY fuzzy and crunchy, and then the horns, fantastically atonal and harsh, adding a strange vibe, as do the sweet crooned female vox, which occasionally slip into a powerful witchy howl, there's also a seriously fierce, super distorted psychedelic guitar solo.
Another one of our favorites is Teungjai Bunpraruksa's "Kanong Krung" which is just crazy and over the top and so good, pounding and fuzzy and groovy, with wild horns, twangy guitars, frantic drumming, a fat fuzzy main riff, super strange girl gang vocals, all distorted and often erupting into wails and screams, a total free for all party anthem for sure.
A lot of the tracks here are not necessarily super heavy, but they all share a certain something, whether it's a bit of fuzzy guitar, or some wild chaotic drumming, or some psychedelic guitar leads, and the sounds do vary dramatically, with many on first listen sounding like they could have come from any of the other recent Thai and Asian comps from Sublime Frequencies or Subliminal Sounds, whether it's twang flecked Morricone-esque moodiness, or Ventures like surfiness, or groovy fuzzy exotica, but spend a little time with each song, and no matter how traditional they sound at first, before you know it, some fuzzy riff or tangle of psychedelic guitar, or burst of skronking horns, or flurry of tribal drums will surface, and the song is transformed into something else. And we do mean SOMETHING ELSE!
Includes a booklet with photos, and liner notes, with more details about the history of the music, as well as the artists and the songs.
