Another Finders Keepers / B-Music treat here, folks! A collection of kooky, creepy, very cool music from the films (many of them about vampires, and many of THOSE about sexy lesbian vampires!) by French underground auteur Jean Rollin, circa 1968-1979. The late Rollin has been proclaimed the "father of European Horrortica". On the freaky fringes of free jazz and psych rock, the tracks found here are the perfect accompaniment to the director's sexy, surreal cinematic phantasmagorias. And unless we're much mistaken, we recognize one of the tracks here, Acanthus' theme to "Le Frisson Des Vampires", as having been surreptitiously covered in heavier fashion by drugged-out doomlords (and horrotica fans) Electric Wizard on their Witchcult Today album!
Another one of note is Pierre Raph's aptly-titled "Gilda & Gunshots", a track of consisting of excited percussion, jazzy bass and pretty trumpet, overlaid with whipcrack-like gun shots, girlish whimpers and cries. It could almost be some noir-jazz experiment by the Boredoms. What the heck was happening in the film scene this scored, we don't know...
We could go on describing this track by track, but there are 31 cuts in all on this disc! With great titles like "Abstract Procession", "Bizarre Cult 2", "Crotch Batterie", "Crimson Gates", and "Violent Library", these vary widely and weirdly, encompassing spooky theremin-like tones, chamber music drones, somber choirs, flute-laced grooves, melodic reveries, arrhythmic interludes, all sorts of stuff. It's a real cornucopia of suspenseful strangeness and freeform avant-rockin'. Composers/performers responsible include the aforementioned Acanthus and Pierre Raph, along with many more by Phillipe D'Aram, Yvon Gerault, Francois Tusques and others. Much of this is previously unreleased. And of course Finders Keepers provides plentiful, fully illustrated liner notes in the cd booklet.
By the way, we also have a couple copies each of the soundtracks to Rollin's films Requiem Por Un Vampire (1972, composed by Pierre Raph) and Fascination (1979, Phillipe D'Aram) on import 10" vinyl, reissued by Finders Keepers as well (key tracks from which appear on this cd collection, naturally).
For a lot of us, buying comps and reissues and stuff put out by Finders Keepers / B-Music is pretty much a no-brainer. These folks know their stuff. They can DJ for us anytime! So mentioning that The BYG Deal is the latest from 'em might be all we need to say, though dropping some names like Brigitte Fontaine, Jean-Claude Vannier, Daevid Allen & Gong, Giorgio Gomelsky, Robert Wyatt, Vangelis, Ame Son, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago couldn't hurt. Or perhaps a name like Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band - never heard of 'em before, no, but they've gotta be good, right!!? (And they are, their track "Floating" anyway being a blissful bit of la-la-la space psych ceremony).
What we have here is a collection of tracks released by France's BYG, a post '68 radical rock/jazz label that flourished 'til about 1974. We'd heard of 'em before mainly in conjunction with the famed BYG/Actuel series of African-American jazz releases, stuff by the Art Ensemble, Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, etc. But this disc demonstrates that BYG (which according to one graphic here stands for Beautiful Young Generation, though elsewhere we're told it's the initials of the three label owners) was as much about psychedelic pop rock and groovy "hairy funk" as it was about avant-garde free jazz... an awesome blend in our opinion, and blend they do, some of these tracks really hard to classify. Maybe it's the "Total Space Music" of which they speak. In any case, whatever discotheque played this stuff must have been REALLY hip and happenin'.
The music here is almost all super groovy, but often quite quirky too (take Gong's circusy nursery rhyme freakout "Hip Hypnotise You" for instance!), these various tracks loaded with flute, orgasmic female vocals, heavy psych guitar, and equally heavy prog organ (running wild alongside frenetically shuffling drums on Vangelis' "Stuffed Tomato", for example, among many standout spots here). From chanteuse Valerie Lagrange's ye-ye grooves to the poppy psychedelic stomp of Coeur Magique to Banana Moon's Beefheartian crunt, this is pretty far out and awesome.
Here's the complete lineup of artists appearing here: Alice (2 tracks), Francois Wertheimer, Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, Gong (3 tracks), Alan Jack, Couer Magique (2 tracks), Valerie Lagrange, Jacques Barsamian, Alpha Beta, Ame Son (2 tracks), Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Freedom, Vangelis, Paul Semana, Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band, Banana Moon, Joachim and Rolf Kuhn. Yep, the disc is crammed, 22 tracks, almost 80 minutes, and the thick cd booklet is equally full up with full color graphics and extensive liner notes, it's amazing the compilers could dig up so much info on this stuff, considering how obscure a lot of this is, but that's their biz!
There's a few tracks you could have run across elsewhere on other reissues, but most of 'em you haven't, that's for damn sure. For instance, the awesomely named track "Astral Abuse" from the rare 7" by Alpha Beta, a one-off Vangelis project. And there's plenty more from other collector's-only, never before on cd sources.
If you liked other B-music compilations like Andy Votel's Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, this ought to be right up your alley. Likewise if you enjoyed the two Pop Made In France comps we've listed, this is a bit like those (some of the same artists appear, in fact) but way weirder. And of course any fan of Jean-Pierre Massiera's strange productions is gonna find this of interest as well... in fact there's personnel connections to his Visitors project, and connections also to the likes of Magma and Aphrodite's Child for that matter.
Another keeper from Finders Keepers that's for sure, thankfully available domestically, complete with slipcover!
Second collection of vintage 78 rpm records from the Sublime Frequencies label, following the fantastic Scattered Melodies compilation we reviewed recently, which focused exclusively on music played on the kayagum, a Korean instrument similar to the Japanese koto. This new one is all music from Burma, now Myanmar, all ultra rare recordings from 1909 to 1960, and again assembled by Robert Millis, a member of aQ faves Climax Golden Twins, and more recently, the curator of many of our favorite world music compilations.
The provenance of these recordings is almost as fascinating as the music itself. The liner notes explain that these records were collected by Millis and former Sun City Girl Alan Bishop over the course of several trips to Burma, some given to them by a dealer with boxes of records tied to the back of his scooter, others from small shops in tiny villages, one in particular where the proprietors would wash its records under the town's single faucet, and still others from their driver, who handed over a bag of records belonging to his dead father. The music itself is as varied as the sources, the A side made up of various 'zat pwe's, a term avid Sublime Frequencies fans might remember from several other SF comps we've carried in the past, and which refers to troupes that would travel throughout Burma performing their musical dramas, soaring emotional vocals, wild squiggly melodies, tinkling chimes, and darkly shimmering gamelan like percussion, some of the tracks are sung by children, the vocals almost always the focal point, the wild melodies in the background tightly wound up in those vocal melodies, making for lush tapestries of exotic inspirational sound, hypnotic and mesmerizing.
The flipside offers up several tracks featuring the Burmese harp, one of the most important instruments in Burmese music, with some tracks sounding like American blues, rich throaty vocals over laid back twang, and what sounds like wildly sawed fiddles, and the thick layer of crackle definitely furthers that whole early shellac / old timey sound. A few of the tracks are more modern, with piano, and male/female vocals, some of the tracks even sound almost like big band jazz, a definite Western influence for sure, but deftly woven into a distinctly Burmese sound. And then it's right back to another stretch of quavery almost traditional sounding Burmese folk music, buzzing strings, intricate vocal melodies, dreamy and dramatic and so divine.
When we first got this in, we sold two copies within minutes of putting the needle in the groove. Fantastic, gorgeous, utterly unique, emotional and haunting, all in equal measure. Obviously recommended for international / world music enthusiasts, but the sounds here totally transcend any sort of classification, anyone into adventurous listening and discovering new (old) sounds should most definitely take a flyer on this, you won't be sorry. Pure sonic bliss that will hopefully open up your mind, and ears, to a whole other world of music out there, past and present.
Comes housed in a heavy, old school Stoughton style tip-on full color jacket, and includes a printed insert with extensive liner notes, and rare photos.
Here's volume three in the five part Ecstasy Of Gold series of lps collecting some of the best, and lesser known, tracks from Italian Westerns. As many of you probably already know, the title comes from an Ennio Morricone track, and Morricone is no doubt the godfather of Italian Western soundtracks, but there are so many other incredible composers and musicians responsible for some of the most iconic movie music of that era. Lots of the folks represented on the first two volumes show up here too, with different tracks, there are again, plenty of big time aQ faves: Bruno Nicolai, Piero Umiliani, Francesco De Masi, Lallo Gori, Alessandro Alessandroni, some of which we already knew, but NOT for their Italian Western soundtracks! Plus again, lots of new names, folks we hadn't heard before this series: Luis Bacalov, Nora Orlandi, Michele Lacerenza, Angelo Lavagnino, Robby Poiteven and a bunch more. And again, all of the fantastic variations of Italian movie music are represented here, fluttering flute, fuzzed out psych guitar, deep dramatic vocals, lots of twang and galloping rhythms, moody ambience, soaring orchestral arrangements, Flamenco guitars, wild drumming, whirring organs, strings galore, mournful trumpets, harmonica galore, tolling bells, martial snares, plenty of sound effects and so much more. Like the other comps, this just makes us want more more more. More music from all these artists, another installment in the series, and most of all, we wanna do nothing but watch crazy Italian Westerns!!!!!!!
Like the first two volumes (which are already out of print), this is LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!! And housed in a super swank eye popping gatefold jacket adorned with classic images from Italian Westerns, film stills, poster art and more. The gatefold image in particular is super striking, a bloody woman draped over what we can only assume is a dead man, sprawled in the dirt, in some dusty village, so crazy looking it has us wanting to track down whatever movie it's from!
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Hot on the heels of the third volume, comes number 4, the second to last installment in this amazing 5 volume series collecting some of the most essential Italian Spaghetti Western soundtrack music, and at this point, we're not sure what else to say without repeating ourselves. Fans of the first three, we're guessing you'll probably want this one too. But for those who are only discovering this series now, odds are everybody knows Ennio Morricone, and his iconic Italian Western soundtracks (in fact the title of the series is a Morricone tune!), and while he may be the most famous, he was far from the only one, folks like Bruno Nicolai, Gianni Ferrio, Francesco De Masi, Marcello Giombini, Luis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi, Nico Fidenco, Piero Umiliani and lots more (all represented here), were making equally stunning music for these amazing films. And here (and on previous volumes), you can get a taste of what they were whipping up: deep dramatic crooned vocals, swoonsome strings, lots of dusky twang, fluttery flutes, wild percussion, wheezing organs, some tracks jazzy and progged out, rife with wah and fuzz guitars, others brooding and minimal, haunting and balladic, and still others, sun baked and dusty, Mariachi trumpets over steel string strum, lots of sound effects too, super varied, and in places super psychedelic, this might be the weirdest and most varied of the bunch, and thus is as essential as the first three for sure - if not even more so!
Like the previous volumes, part 4 comes housed in a full color gatefold sleeve, adorned with various images from classic Italian Westerns as well as artwork from classic Spaghetti Western posters, and again, LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!!!
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The fifth in this ongoing series of limited double lps collecting some of the best songs from classic Italian Westerns. Named for Ennio Morricone's iconic song from the Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Ecstasy Of Gold gathers up some equally iconic tracks, as well as plenty of rare and mostly unheard gems, the list of artists should have Italo-Western soundtrack nerds freaking out: Bruno Nicolai, Nico Fidenco, Francesco De Masi, Lusi Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi and a bunch more. And like the past volumes, the tracks here are overflowing with dramatic crooned vocals, swoonsome strings, plenty of twang, galloping rhythms, fluttering woodwinds, flamenco guitars, wild percussion, a sound most folks are probably familiar with, but a bunch of songs and artists they might not be. And just like after digging into the other volumes, our list of must-see Italian Westerns just keeps getting longer and longer. Top of the list now is Matalo from 1970, the track here from Mario Migliardi sounds like some lost heavy psych gem, or some modern retro-psych outfit, like something you'd here on Rise Above or Cardinal Fuzz, the vocalist a dead ringer for the guy from Redd Kross (themselves genus sixties psych revivalists), with fuzzy, almost metallic riffing, and some seriously psychedelic shred, definitely need to see that movie, and hear the rest of the soundtrack. And the rest of this collection, while not all as fuzzy or psychedelic, is some seriously primo Italo soundtrack gold for sure!
Packaged in a super swank full color gatefold sleeve, adorned with bad ass illustrations from vintage Italian Western movie posters, as well as iconic images from the films themselves. LIMITED TO 750 COPIES. No download.
Rarely has something showed up in the store that so many of us have wanted so badly, so instantly. An incredible TEN DISC boxset, accompanied by a huge book, tracing the history of Bollywood music, from its beginnings in the 1930s, to the present. All its influences represented, from classical to rock and jazz, new age, disco, hip hop, featuring so many legendary Bollywood vocalists including Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt, Sonu Niigaam, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi and tons more. 168 tracks total! We haven't actually opened one up yet, but odds are we're all gonna end up buying one, $99 for ten discs and a book, hard to beat, and judging from the tracklisting and the artists included, it's bound to be incredible, just figured we would get it up on the list/site sooner rather than later, and give aQ listers first crack at scoring one of these amazing collections!
It's tempting with records like this to just paraphrase the extensive liner notes, which in this case go into crazy details about, as the title suggests, the history of cumbia, and how that history has played out via the advent of the commercial phonograph, not to mention the introduction of new instruments, new genres, and the spread of the sound from its birthplace on the Caribbean coast to more central cities. Which would make sense, cuz to be honest, we knew very little about cumbia, at least in terms of its history and development, but at the same time, a quick Google search, and you'll have a wealth of different sources to learn more about cumbia and its history, and as interesting as that is (and it is, VERY), it's really for us all about the music, and the music here, two and a half hours of it, is so fantastic, and the idea that while sure, folks into Latin music and who already dig cumbia, will of course love this, it's the sort of comp that's perfect to expose this music to a whole new audience, one that might not have any experience with stuff like this at all, and who like us, might just be totally blown away by these sounds, energetic and passionate, melodic and moody, rhythmic and celebratory, the bands so tight, the musicians incredible, the songs very propulsive and percussion driven, the older tracks all about the accordion (more on that in the liner notes), with amazingly funky and soulful horn sections, melding cumbia to a fuller big band jazz sound, the songs groove and shimmy, pound and swing, the vocals too, so dramatic and emotional, all combined to create an incredible and expansive collection of music, which while at one time was a music mostly for the lower classes, eventually became a music for all the peoples of Columbia, and a point of great pride.
This collection was curated by Will Holland, who you may know as Quantic, whose awesome Addis To Axum: Music, Words & Arrangements Of Ethiopia record we reviewed way back in 2010, and who spent years in Columbia, learning the accordion, starting a band, and setting up a record studio, immersing himself in the culture to dig up the recorded history of Columbia and cumbia, via a treasure trove of rare 78's and 45's. We've been listening to this like crazy, and have found ourselves going a little cumbia crazy. Beautifully packaged, includes a massive 40 page booklet with tons of liner notes, and lots of amazing photos and images of old record sleeves.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We already listed the double cd, here's the deluxe vinyl version, in two triple-lp volumes!
It's tempting with records like this to just paraphrase the extensive liner notes, which in this case go into crazy details about, as the title suggests, the history of cumbia, and how that history has played out via the advent of the commercial phonograph, not to mention the introduction of new instruments, new genres, and the spread of the sound from its birthplace on the Caribbean coast to more central cities. Which would make sense, cuz to be honest, we knew very little about cumbia, at least in terms of its history and development, but at the same time, a quick Google search, and you'll have a wealth of different sources to learn more about cumbia and its history, and as interesting as that is (and it is, VERY), it's really for us all about the music, and the music here, two and a half hours of it, is so fantastic, and the idea that while sure, folks into Latin music and who already dig cumbia, will of course love this, it's the sort of comp that's perfect to expose this music to a whole new audience, one that might not have any experience with stuff like this at all, and who like us, might just be totally blown away by these sounds, energetic and passionate, melodic and moody, rhythmic and celebratory, the bands so tight, the musicians incredible, the songs very propulsive and percussion driven, the older tracks all about the accordion (more on that in the liner notes), with amazingly funky and soulful horn sections, melding cumbia to a fuller big band jazz sound, the songs groove and shimmy, pound and swing, the vocals too, so dramatic and emotional, all combined to create an incredible and expansive collection of music, which while at one time was a music mostly for the lower classes, eventually became a music for all the peoples of Columbia, and a point of great pride.
This collection was curated by Will Holland, who you may know as Quantic, whose awesome Addis To Axum: Music, Words & Arrangements Of Ethiopia record we reviewed way back in 2010, and who spent years in Columbia, learning the accordion, starting a band, and setting up a record studio, immersing himself in the culture to dig up the recorded history of Columbia and cumbia, via a treasure trove of rare 78's and 45's. We've been listening to this like crazy, and have found ourselves going a little cumbia crazy.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We already listed the double cd, here's the deluxe vinyl version, in two triple-lp volumes!
It's tempting with records like this to just paraphrase the extensive liner notes, which in this case go into crazy details about, as the title suggests, the history of cumbia, and how that history has played out via the advent of the commercial phonograph, not to mention the introduction of new instruments, new genres, and the spread of the sound from its birthplace on the Caribbean coast to more central cities. Which would make sense, cuz to be honest, we knew very little about cumbia, at least in terms of its history and development, but at the same time, a quick Google search, and you'll have a wealth of different sources to learn more about cumbia and its history, and as interesting as that is (and it is, VERY), it's really for us all about the music, and the music here, two and a half hours of it, is so fantastic, and the idea that while sure, folks into Latin music and who already dig cumbia, will of course love this, it's the sort of comp that's perfect to expose this music to a whole new audience, one that might not have any experience with stuff like this at all, and who like us, might just be totally blown away by these sounds, energetic and passionate, melodic and moody, rhythmic and celebratory, the bands so tight, the musicians incredible, the songs very propulsive and percussion driven, the older tracks all about the accordion (more on that in the liner notes), with amazingly funky and soulful horn sections, melding cumbia to a fuller big band jazz sound, the songs groove and shimmy, pound and swing, the vocals too, so dramatic and emotional, all combined to create an incredible and expansive collection of music, which while at one time was a music mostly for the lower classes, eventually became a music for all the peoples of Columbia, and a point of great pride.
This collection was curated by Will Holland, who you may know as Quantic, whose awesome Addis To Axum: Music, Words & Arrangements Of Ethiopia record we reviewed way back in 2010, and who spent years in Columbia, learning the accordion, starting a band, and setting up a record studio, immersing himself in the culture to dig up the recorded history of Columbia and cumbia, via a treasure trove of rare 78's and 45's. We've been listening to this like crazy, and have found ourselves going a little cumbia crazy.
Last year we freaked out about an awesome reissue of Chicha jams by the legendary Peruvian group Juaneco Y Su Combo. So we were beyond thrilled to discover this collection featuring the best of the sounds of Chicha that came bursting out of Peru from the late '60s to the late '70s. Juaneco Y Su Combo are featured here of course, with a few tracks from that disc we love, but what's amazing is that lots of the other groups are just as good, if not even better, and that's saying a whole lot!
It's such an irresistible sound, infused with elements of Andean melodies, Cuban gujiras and plenty of surfy and psychedelic rock tinges. The songs here are filled with so much mood and spirit and will definitely appeal to such a wide range of music lovers, from those who dig weird and wonderful world music a la Sublime Frequencies, to those who dig the more classic psych pop sounds of the Nuggets compilations. These are songs that sizzle and crackle with so much flavor. We could also see rare groove folks getting super excited about some of these sounds and we wouldn't be surprised if samples of them made their way onto some Madlib record in the future.
This actually came out -before- that great Juaneco Su Combo disc so if you loved that one, you gotta make sure to grab this one too, so you can get turned on to other Chicha greats like Los Mirlos, Las Hijos Del Sol, and Los Destellos (who do a Beethoven track in amazing chicha fashion!).
It's always so awesome to blast this in the store, everyone starts tapping their feet and all frowns turn upside down as it's pretty near impossible to be dour or stoic while these songs are playing, and radiating so much colorful fun. So damn good!
We're always happy to have a few of the Rough Guide vinyl releases left over after Record Store Day. They had a bunch this year - the Psychedelic Bollywood one sold out already, dang, but we do have a handful of the others. All of 'em fairly self-explanatory (that's the idea), this one, yep, a sampler of "African Blues", in the vein of the famous Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure - who leads off this comp with the first track on side one. There's others here from West Africa, including the Desert Blues of Tamikrest with a nice Saharan jam, along with bluesy guitar and singing from elsewhere in Africa, with Zambia, Mozambique and Madagascar, among other places, all represented. One track's entirely a cappela. Pretty lovely all around, though some of it's a bit more 'WOMAD' than we usually get into.
180 gram, limited edition vinyl, includes download card with a ton of extra tracks - including a full-length album by Alhoussenini Anivolla. And of course, there's informative liner notes.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The Rough Guides series goes deep for this one. Unlike most of their compilations, rather than featuring (relatively) famous names and classic tracks, this one goes for only obscure cuts, even a bunch of previously unreleased ones. Well, that's why they call it RARE groove, right?
So, get this and get into a wide selection of possibly new-to-you Latin soul/jazz, boogaloo, mambo, salsa, cumbia, and more. There's both vintage tracks and music from contemporary artists, also. Some names: Ray Lugo, Rumba Caliente, Los Po-Boy-Citos, Spanglish Fly, Gilberto Sextet, Los Kenya, Nelson Y Su Estrellas, and more.
Release on limited edition 180 gram vinyl for Record Store Day 2014. Includes a download with extra tracks, including a whole full-length album by Spanglish Fly.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One of this year's Rough Guide vinyl releases for Record Store Day, we have just a couple left. They did also did an African Blues one (see nearby) but his volume drills down to music from, arguably, the home of African Blues (and Desert Blues too), the ethnically diverse West African nation of Mali. The modern music of Mali often has a political dimension, in light of refugee-making conflicts along its borders and oppressive Al Qaeda incursions.
Ali Farka Toure appears here, as he does on the African Blues collection, along with some other names we know like Bassekou Kouyate, Terakraft, Toumani Diabate, Nahawa Doumbia... and more we don't. So it is a nice sampler for sure.
180 gram, limited edition vinyl, with liner notes and download card. The download has bonus tracks, including a full-length album by Ali Farka Toure's protege Samba Toure.
Even those of you already super hip to this stuff might find this could make a good gift...
This is the second Brazilian post-punk compilation we've gotten in the last couple of weeks. The first one that arrived was the electrifying Nao Wave - 1982-1988 released by Man Recordings. This one's from those fine folks at Soul Jazz who've built a solid reputation for releasing music of many sorts (reggae, funk, soul, and post-punk) from many distant locales -- all with one particular thing in common, an addictive, propulsive groove. They've certainly tapped into a wild geyser with this release, although it's not quite as out-there and off-the-hook as the tough-act-to-follow Nao Wave. Most of the eighteen songs are much more typical of the angular sounds you'd imagine when you think of British post-punk (Wire, Gang Of Four, etc). Some artists from Nao Wave reappear here, they are Akira S Et As Garotas Que Erraram, Chance, As Mercenarios, and Fellini, but fortunately only two song are redundant ("Sobre As Pernas" and "Samba De Morro" by the first two artists respectively).
This is the second Brazilian post-punk compilation we've gotten in the last couple of weeks. The first one that arrived was the electrifying Nao Wave - 1982-1988 released by Man Recordings. This one's from those fine folks at Soul Jazz who've built a solid reputation for releasing music of many sorts (reggae, funk, soul, and post-punk) from many distant locales -- all with one particular thing in common, an addictive, propulsive groove. They've certainly tapped into a wild geyser with this release, although it's not quite as out-there and off-the-hook as the tough-act-to-follow Nao Wave. Most of the eighteen songs are much more typical of the angular sounds you'd imagine when you think of British post-punk (Wire, Gang Of Four, etc). Some artists from Nao Wave reappear here, they are Akira S Et As Garotas Que Erraram, Chance, As Mercenarios, and Fellini, but fortunately only two song are redundant ("Sobre As Pernas" and "Samba De Morro" by the first two artists respectively).
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 comes in a digipack with a thick 24 page booklet that boasts plenty of full-color graphics (lots of vintage record sleeves and labels, plus pics of some of the artists, and a couple shots of the interior of a vinyl shop in Bangkok) and extensive liner notes. There's a lengthy essay discussing the development of, and distinctions between, such popular musical forms as luk thung, luk krung, and molam, with the impact of Western sounds such as surf rock and Santana also being discussed. Then each track gets its own detailed explanatory note as well, often giving some insight into the sometimes peculiar lyrical content the songs. (Also one mentions that Ethiopian groove-master Mulatu Astatke once spent time in Thailand, and has been quoted as having found some of the sounds of Thai music quite similar to those of his own country, so it's not just us.) Super thorough and informative, much as we expect from Soundway. Yay!
Yay! It's been awhile since we've had a new Finder's Keepers release, and this one is amazing!
By now we're all too familiar with the Eastern cinematic pop splendor and sitar funk of Bollywood. But what about Lollywood? Yes, just to the north in Pakistan, the city of Lahore had their own cottage film industry. Perhaps not as well known outside Pakistan, Lollywood was highly profitable in the seventies and eighties, housing a unique music division with its own equivalent of Bollywood's R.D. Burman and Asha Bhole in M. Ashraf and his female collaborator, Nahid Akhtar. With the help of EMI, Pakistani musicians were able to create ambitious music in a world class studio, using far-out instrumentation like Moogs and other synthesizers, accordions, surf-guitars, and tons of traditional hand percussion instruments instead of a proper drum set. It's definitely a far more electric and electronic pop sound , than what we're used to hearing in classic Bollywood music. Having an almost retro-futurist bent in its explosive collision of Eastern and Western musical touchstones: Freak-Beat and Surf Rock meets Space-Age Moog Pop and Urdu Groove! Originally released on 7" mini-lps (a curious marketing scheme was to release one soundtrack on 3 separate 7"s!), this is the first time these wild and delightful cinematic obscurities have been collected. Let's hope more get discovered. This IS the Sound of Wonder!
This one's pretty much an "add to cart" no-brainer; the subtitle says it all, "Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria". And it's on the wonderful Soundway label, who've brought us such prior treats as Nigeria Rock Special, Nigeria Disco Funk Special, and Ghana Soundz. Really, do you need to know more? There's 32 killer cuts spread across the two cds here, from almost as many bands, exuberant electric guitar wielding garage acts most of 'em, and funky too, super funky. Anyone eager for a sequel to that Nigeria Rock Special in particular, start freaking out now! Some of the names here are familiar from that comp or other reissues, but we don't think there's any overlap songwise. Others are way more obscure to our ears. So you get Ofege, Ofo The Black Company, The Mebusas, The Hygrades, Colomach, and The Action 13, alongside, among others, P.R.O. (People Rock Outfit), Chuck Barrister & The Voices Of Darkness, The Thermometers, The Comrades, The Ceejebs, The Funkees, The Hykkers, Bongos Ikwue, The Lawrence Amavi Group, The Ify Jerry Krusade, Sonny Okosuns & Paperback Limited, Cicada, The Identicals, and even a band called The Semi Colon! The Semi Colon's song is pretty badass, by the way, with Moog-y "Blow Your Head" style synth and wicka-wicka chicken scratch guitar, shades of The JB's for sure, James Brown's backup band probably a big influence on a LOT of these groups, along with psych rock from the West as well, especially various Frisco ballroom jammers. While there's variety, there's definitely a Nigerian scene "sound" of the era on display here, and that scene must have been a pretty competitive one, these bands are HOT. While there's some lovely, mellowed-out moments (like PRO's laidback ballad of "Blacky Joe"), mostly this collection consists of uptempo, dancefloor filling groovers, full of percolating percussion, wild wah-wah, and soulful vocal exhortations. A few have horns, there's a lot of funky electric organ, and in all cases, the rhythms are, not surprisingly, first and foremost the focus, driving these songs into your heart, mind, and soul via the involuntary head nodding, foot tapping, get up and get down reaction your body will have to 'em...
The compilation takes its name from The Black Mirror's "The World Ends", found on disc two. Meanwhile, "Soundway" by Wrinkars Experience, from disc one, could be the theme song for the label! Kinda akin to a Nigerian "Nuggets", this is indeed yet another awesome Soundway comp, one of our faves from them so far and that's saying a lot. Can't argue with two discs this funky and fuzzed, though! Comes nicely packaged with a 44 page booklet featuring a plenitude of liner notes and vintage photos. Totally recommended.
NOW ON VINYL!! Separated into two volumes, both a bit pricey sorry to say, but might just be worth it for vinyl fiends, one of the best Afro-funk-psych compilations in recent memory! Plus each volume has TWO bonus tracks not on the cd version! Here's more or less what we said about that:
This one's pretty much an "add to cart" no-brainer; the subtitle says it all, "Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria". And it's on the wonderful Soundway label, who've brought us such prior treats as Nigeria Rock Special, Nigeria Disco Funk Special, and Ghana Soundz. Really, do you need to know more? There's 32 killer cuts spread across the two cds here, from almost as many bands, exuberant electric guitar wielding garage acts most of 'em, and funky too, super funky. Anyone eager for a sequel to that Nigeria Rock Special in particular, start freaking out now! Some of the names here are familiar from that comp or other reissues, but we don't think there's any overlap songwise. Others are way more obscure to our ears. So you get Ofege, Ofo The Black Company, The Mebusas, The Hygrades, Colomach, and The Action 13, alongside, among others, P.R.O. (People Rock Outfit), Chuck Barrister & The Voices Of Darkness, The Thermometers, The Comrades, The Ceejebs, The Funkees, The Hykkers, Bongos Ikwue, The Lawrence Amavi Group, The Ify Jerry Krusade, Sonny Okosuns & Paperback Limited, Cicada, The Identicals, and even a band called The Semi Colon! The Semi Colon's song is pretty badass, by the way, with Moog-y "Blow Your Head" style synth and wicka-wicka chicken scratch guitar, shades of The JB's for sure, James Brown's backup band probably a big influence on a LOT of these groups, along with psych rock from the West as well, especially various Frisco ballroom jammers. While there's variety, there's definitely a Nigerian scene "sound" of the era on display here, and that scene must have been a pretty competitive one, these bands are HOT. While there's some lovely, mellowed-out moments (like PRO's laidback ballad of "Blacky Joe"), mostly this collection consists of uptempo, dancefloor filling groovers, full of percolating percussion, wild wah-wah, and soulful vocal exhortations. A few have horns, there's a lot of funky electric organ, and in all cases, the rhythms are, not surprisingly, first and foremost the focus, driving these songs into your heart, mind, and soul via the involuntary head nodding, foot tapping, get up and get down reaction your body will have to 'em...
The compilation takes its name from The Black Mirror's "The World Ends", found on part 2. Meanwhile, "Soundway" by Wrinkars Experience, from part 1, could be the theme song for the label! Kinda akin to a Nigerian "Nuggets", this is indeed yet another awesome Soundway comp, one of our faves from them so far and that's saying a lot. Can't argue with music this funky and fuzzed, though!
NOW ON VINYL!! Separated into two volumes, both a bit pricey sorry to say, but might just be worth it for vinyl fiends, one of the best Afro-funk-psych compilations in recent memory! Plus each volume has TWO bonus tracks not on the cd version! Here's more or less what we said about that:
This one's pretty much an "add to cart" no-brainer; the subtitle says it all, "Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria". And it's on the wonderful Soundway label, who've brought us such prior treats as Nigeria Rock Special, Nigeria Disco Funk Special, and Ghana Soundz. Really, do you need to know more? There's 32 killer cuts spread across the two cds here, from almost as many bands, exuberant electric guitar wielding garage acts most of 'em, and funky too, super funky. Anyone eager for a sequel to that Nigeria Rock Special in particular, start freaking out now! Some of the names here are familiar from that comp or other reissues, but we don't think there's any overlap songwise. Others are way more obscure to our ears. So you get Ofege, Ofo The Black Company, The Mebusas, The Hygrades, Colomach, and The Action 13, alongside, among others, P.R.O. (People Rock Outfit), Chuck Barrister & The Voices Of Darkness, The Thermometers, The Comrades, The Ceejebs, The Funkees, The Hykkers, Bongos Ikwue, The Lawrence Amavi Group, The Ify Jerry Krusade, Sonny Okosuns & Paperback Limited, Cicada, The Identicals, and even a band called The Semi Colon! The Semi Colon's song is pretty badass, by the way, with Moog-y "Blow Your Head" style synth and wicka-wicka chicken scratch guitar, shades of The JB's for sure, James Brown's backup band probably a big influence on a LOT of these groups, along with psych rock from the West as well, especially various Frisco ballroom jammers. While there's variety, there's definitely a Nigerian scene "sound" of the era on display here, and that scene must have been a pretty competitive one, these bands are HOT. While there's some lovely, mellowed-out moments (like PRO's laidback ballad of "Blacky Joe"), mostly this collection consists of uptempo, dancefloor filling groovers, full of percolating percussion, wild wah-wah, and soulful vocal exhortations. A few have horns, there's a lot of funky electric organ, and in all cases, the rhythms are, not surprisingly, first and foremost the focus, driving these songs into your heart, mind, and soul via the involuntary head nodding, foot tapping, get up and get down reaction your body will have to 'em...
The compilation takes its name from The Black Mirror's "The World Ends", found on part 2. Meanwhile, "Soundway" by Wrinkars Experience, from part 1, could be the theme song for the label! Kinda akin to a Nigerian "Nuggets", this is indeed yet another awesome Soundway comp, one of our faves from them so far and that's saying a lot. Can't argue with music this funky and fuzzed, though!
Another rich and immersive vintage compilation from the always reliable Honest's Jons label, The World Is Shaking focuses on a highly productive period during the fifties of urban popular music that was the seed for what would become Congolese Rumba, one of the African Continent's most popular musical dance forms of the sixties and seventies. We often hear of the westwardly influence of African music on West Indies, Cuba and the Caribbean Islands, but not so much in reverse. Yet the Congo in the fifties after suffering centuries of decimation from slave traders and Belgian colonial rule, embraced the Latin music of South and Central America like no other country. Many factors contributed to this, including the exports of radios and records from slave trading countries as well as the increasing popularity of early American Jazz music and European Torch singers that attracted Congolese musicians to play less traditional and indigenous musical forms in order to get work in colonial nightclubs. But perhaps the biggest factor was the arrival of recording equipment to the region that allowed radio stations to record and broadcast local musicians allowing them to become more disciplined in their musical approach due to the strict limitations of the three minute song format. And so with more records and bands, popular nightlife increased. Inspired by 78's from Latin America, musicians would often adopt the tunes and rewrite the lyrics in their own language. Adwika Depala, one of the more successful players recorded his own take on the popular latin song, El Manicero (The Peanut Vendor), changing the word for peanut (Mani) to a women's name (Moni), offering a lament to a jilting lover that local audiences perhaps related more to than the original lyrics. The danceable rhythms provided by guitars, horns, and accordions with occasional moments of odder instrumentation like banjo and kazoos sparked attraction in audiences hungry for modernity as well as a renewed sense of identity. Honest Jon's scores again!
Record Store Day alert! Here's a 2013 RSD release that we thankfully managed to get enough copies of to list...
Please don't ask us to pronounce Theppabutr, but do ask us why this is so awesome - though the best answer is: just listen to it!
International vinyl diggers, seeking out vintage grooves in far flung parts of the world, have made Molam music from Thailand into something that's now definitely a 'thing' in our world music section - we've had some other great Molam collections on the Sublime Freqencies label, for instance, so of course it's exciting to hear from 'The Man Behind The Molam Sound', Theppabutr Satirodchompu, responsible for the production work on the 17 tracks collected here from a variety of Molam artists. It's Molam of the modern variety (modern circa 1972-1975 that is, in this case), a form of electrified vocal music from Northeast Thailand that combines traditional folk melodies and ethnic instrumentation with electric guitars and electronic keyboards. Great stuff, all of it, lively and rhythmic, emotive and ear-wormy. Even though we don't understand a word, it's still immediately captivating. We love the keening singers and warbly organs, groovy beats and exotic vibes. If you haven't yet given Molam and closely related genre Luk Thung a try, this would be a great place to start. Seventies Molam like this is mighty fine stuff, up there with those 'Ethiopiques' recordings and certain Jamaican reggae of the same vintage, though we'd imagine the vocal stylings here might work for some folks and not so much for others.
This limited vinyl version is a Record Store Day 2013 release - there is also a (presumably less-limited) non-RSD compact disc edition too, that we'll be stocking and will list next time, but we wanted to get this RSD vinyl listed now before they were gone! Especially since the double vinyl includes two bonus tracks not found on the cd version - as well as a 12"x14" poster, and download card for mp3s of all the tracks. Gatefold sleeve in faux woodgrain wrapper, liner notes, foldout poster inside.
Subtitle: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock And Funk: 1970-1978. Maybe that's all the review this needs, it worked for us, but we'll go on...
Damn. Now THIS is what all comps/reissues should be like. Just the physical thing itself, both cd and lp formats, makes us go wow. And then there's the music, amazing stuff by bands we've NEVER ever heard of before, for the most part.... international psych-rock grooviness from the '70s, Indonesian division. Twenty tracks, all killer no filler for damn sure. So, to start with the elaborate, you're-getting-your-money's-worth packaging, packed with content: exhaustive liner notes, vintage photos, colorful album cover graphics, in a 64 page book in the cd version (and it really thick enough to be called a BOOK, not a booklet) or a 16 page (but lp-sized of course) booklet with the massive 3lp set. Both are solid, hefty items indeed. The cd itself comes in a sturdy cardboard mini-lp style sleeve, tucked tightly along with the book inside a wraparound slipcover. The vinyl, in a triple gatefold sleeve about a half inch thick. Impressive presentation, topping even that of another recent anthology of non-Western psych/funk stuff we made a Record Of The Week as well not long ago, the Sa-Re-Ga collection. What that was to India this is to Indonesia.
And Indonesia is definitely full of hidden treasures for us Westerners into exotic "hairy funk" and heavy rock sounds of the past. We knew about a few bands on here, that we'd had reissues by before, the Ariesta Birawa Group, Shark Move, Koes Plus, but that's it - all of those are awesome though, so the fact that we'd never heard of the other 16 acts on here (there's 20 tracks, but one band appears twice) just made us more excited to hear this: Rollies, Super Kid, Freedom Of Rhapsodia, Murry, The Brims, Black Brothers, Ivo's Group, Golden Wing, The Gang Of Harry Roesli, Benny Soebardja and Lizard, Aka, Panbers, Rhythm Kings, Rasela, Terenchem, and Duo Kribo.
The music of these groups ranges from heavy progressive bombast to hippie trippiness to out-and-out groovy dancefloor filling fodder, often all at once, and then some. Eastern-tinged (no surprise) psychedelic Sgt. Pepperisms and stomping acid funk are blended in the very first selection here, "Haai", by a band called Panbers, who once opened for the Bee Gees in Djakarta. Off to a good start! A tough act to follow (we imagine the Bee Gees thought so too), but track two's The Brims manage to hold their own with "Anti Gandja", a song apparently with a message of "just say no", though it sure sounds a lot like they said hell yeah. Then the third cut, "Bad News" by Rollies, suddenly introduces a healthy dose of James Brown worship, the others were funky but this one is straight up FUNK. After that, we're treated to one of the highlights from the Shark Move album, one of the few tracks here we knew, the fuzz-heavy shambolic riff-tumble with prog-classical soloing of "Evil War". Up next, the stoned lope of Golden Wing's love song "Hear Me" is a bit more primitive, akin to Japan's Speed Glue & Shinki, or Juan De La Cruz from the Philippines.
So, that's just the first five tracks, so far they're all smokin', and guess what? It just gets better and better believe it or not. Turn it up, play it loud! We can't go into detail about EVERY track, though they all deserve mention, from the spacey soul of Super Kid to the greasy groove of The Gang Of Harry Roselli, but we should at least let you know that the Koes Plus cut is NOT from the cd of theirs you may already have that Sublime Frequencies put out, it's taken from a latter record, 1976's ln Hard Beat 2, and it's a rad one, with a nice la la la vocal chorus echoed by some much more maniacal LALALA screaming, crazy.
Oh, and we know why they put two tracks from AKA on here, how could they chose between the badass hard rock of "Do What You Like" with its headspining psychedelic breakdowns, and the same group's seriously funky, James Brown inspired "Shake Me", which begins with call-and-response chant, the band saying "No" to grass, morphine, and LSD, but "YEAH" to sex.
Ok, we'll leave it to you get this and experience all the fuzzy, funky riffery here for yourself. Familiar in its '70s vibe - ferinstance Benny Soebardja (ex-Shark Move) and Lizard's "Candlelight" is so '70s, classic radio rock, maybe the Indonesian answer to the Steve Miller Band? - yet fresh, definitely from somewhere and somewhen else!!
Kudos to compiler Jason "Moss" Connoy for tracking down all these gems, and to everyone else involved with putting this package together, doing the research, writing, and graphic documentation... obviously an immense job but well done and well worth it. So, if you've been enjoying Sa-Re-Ga, Thai! Dai!, Sound Of Siam, Psych-Funk 101, The World Ends, or any other disc of crate-digging discoveries from around the world we've recommended lately, this one is definitely for you too! Highest recommendation.
Last year, one of our favorite releases was the always great label Sub Rosa's beautiful assemblage of 1971 recordings from the kingdom of Bhutan entitled Tibetan Buddhist Rites From The Monasteries of Bhutan; and wow, what an intense and powerful collection of recordings it was. Sounds by monks and nuns that pretty much surpassed in sheer intensity and core spirit so much of what we usually drool over in our experimental and metal sections. Now we have the follow up to that which comes from the same recordings by John Levy made in Bhutan from 1971-72. A much different affair, these recordings as made obvious by the title, focus on the actual songs and folk tradition of Bhutan. Featuring skillful and moving instrumentals as well as many songs with vocals that leave us in total awe of their haunting qualities and totally beautiful delivery. You can almost imagine people like Islaja and Will Oldham listening to this with their notebook by their side and their ears wide open hoping to have it all enter their psyche. Parts of the instrumentation no doubt would get members of the No Neck Blues Band standing at attention. So funny how so much of what we know as 'free folk' or "free whatever" can be found in its original incarnation on these recordings. The Bhutanese dramnyen is probably the core and most used instrument on these recordings and wow how much we are in love with its glorious sound: seven strings that are struck with a plectrum and vibrate warmly, instantly washing over you with a darkly gentle vibe of total warmth and surrender. We're so grateful to Sub Rosa for releasing these previously impossible to find recordings. So moving and totally recommended!
Ok, you know how we're always getting giddy about some totally heavy doomy dirgey droney sludgy band, like Boris or SUNNO))) or Earth or Corrupted? Yep, we love that stuff. But let's face it, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that *you too* given the appropriate equipment (guitar, effects, amplification) and the ability to play an open E chord, could come up with something that sounds heavy in *that* way. Maybe. But this double cd is something that we know for sure that we, you, or any of the bands currently cranking up n' out the slow n' low couldn't quite match in sheer heaviness. Not heaviness of the loud and plugged-in variety, of course. A different sort of heaviness, the kind that gets the quotation marks around it, a "heavy" that's timeless, spiritual, feeling, and isn't entirely reliant on volume and bass ('though the droning low-end horns on here sure do provide plenty of both).
'Cause really, a couple of guitars and amps and distortion can't compete with the chanting of dozens of Tibetan monks (and nuns) accompanied by huge long trumpets and rumbling large frame drums and booming gongs and clashing cymbals and chiming bells and the resounding ambience and atmosphere of being recorded in an ancient monastery in the mountains of Bhutan, can they?! No sir, no way. Not if you turn your stereo up while playing this, anyway.
Now, if you're like us you've probably always thought that Tibetan Buddhist monks were cool, and knew they made cool music too. But also if you're like us, it hasn't been entirely clear just which of the many recordings of Tibetan monk music you should invest in, 'cause some just seem too Newagey or likely to also involve some interloper like Mickey Hart. Well, this new release on Sub Rosa -- a reissue of a 4LP set originally released on Lyrichord in 1972 -- is pretty clearly one to get.
These two discs are dense with astonishing, mesmerizing music. From pieces featuring calm, unaccompanied chant to flurries of hypnotically discordant high-end horns that almost sound like electronic feedback to massive Hermann Nitsch style sonic eruptions, the variety and depth here is amazing. 'Twas all recorded on location in the Kingdom of Bhutan in 1971 by legendary, well-travelled British ethnomusicologist and Orientalist John Levy (1910-1976), using a Nagra stereo prototype reel-to-reel recorder that did a wonderous job, as did he. Done in what seems to be the same spirit of exploration that motivates the field recordings found in the AQ fave Sublime Frequencies series, this is well-recorded, yet authentic and raw -- Levy's tapes even captured the flapping and cooing of pidgeons who live in the monastery, heard in the background in the quieter passages!
Disc One has two parts. Firstly, the Rituals of the Drukpa Order from Thimphu and Punakha (nineteen tracks, various invocations and supplications), and secondly, Sacred Dances and Rituals of the Nyingmapa and Drukpa Orders from Nyimalung and Tongsa (five tracks of dances performed in animal masks). Disc Two continues part two from the first cd with another five tracks of prayer, followed by part three: Temple Rituals and Public Ceremonies (fifteen tracks, everything from Milarepa poems and mantras to rituals to subjegate evil spirits). Each cd has its own booklet, full of very detailed notes on the music and the recording thereof. Texts of the various prayers and chants are included in English translation, as well. The reading and listening here will keep you busy for a long time, lots to learn about and enjoy with this for sure.
It's no wonder that when SUNNO))) plays, they dress up like monks...not Tibetan monks necessarily but monks nonetheless. An obvious way to make their music seem more mysterious and massive. So...if you're gonna buy just one Tibetan (or Bhutanese) monk album, this wouldn't be a bad choice at all. And, it's a good deal for two discs too!
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.
Known primarily for their American blues reissues, Monk now joins the ranks of Dust To Digital, Honest Jon's and Mississippi Records in the international field with this amazing vinyl compilation featuring music from Africa and India recorded during the 1940s and '50s. While the title and cover art would suggest this was the work of a singular traveller/collector who either had a portable record cutter or player and recorded or collected recordings of many of the hotel bands on his travels through Africa and India, we could find no such actual accreditation. Instead these tracks seemed to be pulled from the vast EMI archives, mostly from their South Asian bureau.
A little online research tells us that many of the African songs are the work of the Zulu, South Africa's largest ethnic group. The songs tend to incorporate traditional Zulu choral vocals into a sound heavily influenced by the western jazz many Africans were absorbing in the wake of British colonial rule. The songs from India likewise show a cross cultural blend of styles, showing at least one positive thing to come out of the generally brutal nature of imperialism. One of the band leaders, Teddy Weatherford, was a veteran of the Chicago jazz scene in the 1940s, while scores of refugees came over following the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942, so this really is representative of the rapidly changing world of the day. Despite international turmoil, the artists here prove that the transcendent power of music can always shine through no matter where things are going. Bravo.
Lilith is really on top of the Tropicalia reissues and this time we see back in stock the compilation / collaboration that served as the Brazilian movement's defining manifesto while also highlighting the key musical players: Gil Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and producer Rogerio Duprat (with contributions from Nara Leao, Tom Ze, and Vicente Celestino among others). We were surprised to find we didn't review this ten years ago when we first discovered and raved about Os Mutantes and heard about the Tropicalia movement from the late sixties with all this amazing and creative art, poetry and music. Although it's easy to be blinded by Os Mutantes' genius, as they were definitely the most rocking and performative component of the movement, which was made up of mostly singer-songwriters that came from more traditional musical forms of Samba, Fado and Bossa Nova. So perhaps we were less floored musically with that aspect of this compilation at the time, or just didn't appreciate enough the then-radical concept of mashing all these disparate forms of psychedelic rock, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Brazilian popular styles together in a country that nationalized its traditional music to such a degree that even electric instruments were considered anathema. We are definitely appreciating it much more now. Especially after becoming more familiar with the solo work of each of the contributors, we're more open this time around to the softer nuances of the song writing and performances. Panis et Circencis (Bread and Circuses) is both a celebration and a political critique, a collaboration of unity and vitality and most of all longevity.
You can always count on Soul Jazz for a beautifully packaged and well thought out compilation. This time out it's a trip to late '60s early '70s Brazil for the suave sounds of the founders of tropicalia. Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, Gal Costa, Jorgen Ben, Gilberto Gil, and of course ultimate AQ faves Os Mutantes. With a sound that mixes elements of psychedelic rock, samba, funk, soul and avant-garde aesthetics like tape loops and delays. Crazy to think that during the dictatorial political atmosphere in Brazil at the time many of these artists were seen as dangerous because of the revolutionary sounds they were creating. Veloso and Gil were even arrested and deported. What they began was a sound and style that's been picked up by new generations across the globe. Just listen to records by Beck, Olivia Tremor Control (listen to the Veloso sound sample, an OTC dead ringer!), Sam Prekop, David Byrne and many others and you can hear how these sounds have shaped some of the smartest pop music of the last quarter-century.
