WONDERUL! Japanese-only reissue of the third Gil album (also known as the self titled Gilberto Gil album), originally issued by Brazilian Polydor in 1969. Mutantes fans hungering for more should not skip this gem, and who knows how long it will be available to us so buy now or cry later.
"Every bit as in the zone as Gal's epochal '69 testament; musta been something in the Bahian water that year! The Brazilian military dictatorship of the time didn't know what the fuck to make of these records, but they knew they were plenty subversive & placed Gilberto & Caetano Veloso (don't sleep on his '69 White Album either, even though it's never been as hard to find as these two) under house arrest before exiling them for several years. Lanny, again, provides some of the most psychedelic guitarwork the world has ever known & studio wiz Rogerio Duprat outdoes himself on the almost-Dockstadteresque 'Objeto Semi-Identificado'. There's even a Mutantes cover ('2001' or 'Dois Mil e Uno') which out-freaks the original! ... This was Gil's third album, and second in the Tropicálist style. I've yet to hear a bad one from him..." -- Tropicalia expert Jason Witherspoon in the (Forced Exposure catalog [http://www.forcedexposure.com/])
Originally released in 1972, Expresso 2222 was Gilberto Gil's first recording after his two year exile in London. The record opens with a truly riveting, playful, and festive flute and drum instrumental, that harkens to the ceremonial flute music of the Andes. Sadly, it's the last stylistic foray on the record into the spiritual heights of the high mountain tops, but for those uninitiated, let it be the delectable hors d'oeuvre that sends you on your hunt for more. Luckily what is to come is by far one of the greatest statements in popular Brazilian music of the '60s and '70s. When the second track rolls in, we're thrust back, deep into the midst of a more archetypical Tropicalia sound, though the movement itself was considered to be properly dead at that point. It is clear Gil is looking to Africa for inspiration more than classic American '60s rock and roll and pop, a hallmark of the Tropicalia movement. In all cases however, Gil continuously mines funky indigenous rhythms and melodies, and reinvigorates them with a contemporary urgency. Gil's vocal delivery is always vividly commanding, with plenty of flare and pomp alongside a general purity of form and intention. Gil's frantic guitar playing is a true feat to behold and always rich in craft. Anyone who hasn't spent a little time watching Gil shred in his prime on YouTube should do themselves a favor, it is a real pleasure, and frankly a gift. Gil's supporting cast is in fine form as well on this outing with Tutty Moreno providing crisp, inventive drumming and Lanny Gordin delivering a great chugging and supple bass performance. The production is not as wild or intensely psychedelic as Gil's most immediately previous records at that point in his career, generally emphasizing clarity and separation ahead of the sometimes schizophrenically boisterous psychedelia he also dabbled in. Perhaps the record's most luminous moment occurs on "Cada Macaco No Seu Galho," wherein Gil and sometime collaborator Caetano Veloso launch into a frenetic and roiling duet over one of the most gorgeously sturdy yet lyrical Latin guitar riffs ever recorded. Seriously, go there.
Brazil's beloved Gilberto Gil, as one of the originators of the Tropicalia sound, has written and recorded some of the most beautiful and politically-minded music ever made. We are huge fans of his first three records, especially Cerebro Electronico from 1969, but like a lot of the older Brazilian artists, including Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Milton Nascimento, Gil has been releasing a series of increasingly bland world-beat and jazz-fusion records for quite a while now.
It seems though, that his recent appointment as Brazil's Minister of Culture, has left him little time to record and rehearse with a full band, and so he has thankfully returned to recording and touring with just his voice and acoustic guitar. If you haven't seen him perform recently, you HAVE to, he's truly a magical presence, and hearing the Brazilian members in the audience sing along to every song is a more rewarding experience than you would expect. There's just so much love. Gil Luminoso is a nice return to form with a few visits back to his older catalog (including "Cerebro Electronico"), but containing mostly new songs. At an hour's length, with just voice and guitar, it runs a bit long, but for the most part, it's quite a beautiful record. So put down that Seu Jorge record and get a dose of the real thing! Viva Gil!
Don't let the English-sung lyrics deter you from getting one of Gilberto Gil's finest Tropicalia recordings. Recently reissued in a more affordable version by the Water label, here Gil revisits some of his most popular songs such as "Volkswagen Blues" and "Nega", as well as one some great cover versions of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" and The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band". Full of the exuberant singing and fuzz electric guitar as showcased on his previous record, Cerebro Electronico, this record is pretty damn Great!
Finally available domestically, Cerebro Electronico (Also known as s/t (1969)), is Gilberto Gil's most wild and exciting Tropicalia outing. Mutantes fans hungering for more should not skip this gem. If Gal Costa's 1969 psych-fuzz groove album floated your boat, get ready for this. Another raucous and wild slab of political subversion that later caused his and Caetano Velosos house arrest and subsequent political exile for many years. Featuring some of the most psychedelic guitarwork the world has ever known, studio wiz Rogerio Duprat outdoes himself on the almost-Dockstadteresque 'Objeto Semi-Identificado'. There's even a Mutantes cover ('2001' or 'Dois Mil e Uno') which out-freaks the original! And some fucking awesome whistling on "Volks Volkswagon Blue." Those unsure of where to start on Gilberto Gil's long musical career should begin right here! Highly Recommended.
Gilberto Gil's Frevo Rasgado is as true an archetypal expression of Tropicalia as one is going to find. As is always more or less the case with defining a genre, some portion of the mental gymnastics hinges on construction and projection. As humans trying to categorize things we like, we often blur the edges and collapse differences in service of our desire to be able to declare unequivocally: "I like Alternative!" Or Shitgaze, or Go-Go, or whatever crackpot concoction you've got brewing. So, all that said, this record does an incredibly good job of presenting a thorough and accessible example of a genre that is surprisingly elusive, now 40 years past its zenith. And perhaps what makes it elusive is the breadth of influence it incorporates, mixing bossa nova, rock and roll, Bahian folk music, myriad African forms, and even a brand of Portuguese blues called fado. The pastiche is so rich in fact that it's pretty easy to lose track of the ingredients in the blend. A good pair of headphones will certainly help you tease the detail out of the auxiliary percussion tucked under the horn section, or pull a thread of whistling out of a dense flute section. For those inclined towards this kind of sonic excavation, this record is a true pleasure.
But enough hemming and hawing about genre, because this record is much more. It's a gorgeous collision between two of Brazil's greatest auteurs. Gil, the once exiled pop star with more than 20 records under his belt, and the current Minister of Culture in Brazil, head to head with Rogario Duprat, something of a Tropicalian Phil Spector, and undeniably� a fucking wizard. And both are in fine form, confident in their skills, expansive in their vision, technically inventive, and generally charming. Many of the melodies and the phrasings will be familiar to anyone whose spent time with the rest of the Rogario Duprat catalogue, especially A Banda Tropicalista Do Duprat, another classic from '68. However, Frevo Rasgado shows Gil also exploring a moodier and more atmospheric terrain. In particular the tracks "Ele Falava Nisso Todo Dia" and "Luzia Luluza" balance Gil's typically boisterous and winning vocal approach with a pensive, rainy-day production and arrangement aesthetic resulting in a sweet and sour treat you don't find often. Their sentimental gravitas is absolutely the stuff of soundtracks. Grab it before Wes Anderson does so you can have the pleasure of imagining or living the magic, before its potential is fixed in celluloid. Frevo Rasgodo is less of a guitar record than some of Gil's other records. Instead the many and varied horns, flutes, strings, and percussive ephemera drape the song structures in counterpoint, drawing your attention to the far reaches of what each song's core could imply. It's in this distance perhaps that the magic lies. Between whatever spare version of a song Gil first cooked up, and the spacious context and gallant style Duprat places it in. Anyone whose imagination has been piqued in regards to '60s and '70s Brazilian music by the likes of Animal Collective or Devendra Banhart should spend time with this record and uncover the origins. It's a full spectrum gift that keeps on giving.
Rev-Ola brings us the sweet summer breeze early this year by reissuing this pop-jazz gem from Astrud Gilberto. Famous for her refreshingly lackadaisical vocal debut on Stan Getz's "The Girl from Ipanema", September 17, 1969 marks her last recording date with the Verve label (released in America as "Let Go", with a different song order), as the Bossa Nova craze that had invaded America since the mid-sixties was waning. Filled with more contemporary covers than Brazilian standards, including songs by the Bee Gees, The Beatles, The Doors and Harry Nilsson, the album's standout track is the eight minute opener, a cover of Chicago's "Beginnings", a beat-heavy groover that fans of Wax Poetics will drool over. But the Brazilian cuts are still strong with "Let Go (Canto de Ossanha)" popularized by Elis Regina, being a return to the soft samba vibe that made Gilberto famous. It'll be easy to cringe at some of the more obvious pop interpretations like "Light My Fire", but most of the time her choices work. It's better to think of it like this: without Astrud Gilberto, there would be no Nouvelle Vague!
Verve sessions, many never before on cd, from the Brazillian jazz vocalist ("the dreamy she-voice of bossa nova" it says here) famous for "The Girl From Ipanema." Includes covers of songs by Chicago and the Bee-Gees, along with sambas in Portuguese, etc. Much fun.
Yes, we've been a little out of seasonal sorts what with the extra early daylight savings time this year, but we truly know that spring is in full bloom by the arrival of the bright and breezy third album from Bebel Gilberto. It's a definite charmer for fans old and new. A particularly hot one-two punch comes at the album's midpoint when Gilberto turns on a dime from the groovy thumpin' finish of "Cacada" to the gentle wispy beauty of "Night And Day". Effortlessy captivating.
Alas, Bebel Gilberto's lovely voice gets completely buried beneath a mass of heavy, choppy beats not once but twice, and then as if to make up for that, there's an acapella remix version with Bebel going ba-da-ba endlessly. Very unnecessary (unless you're looking for some vocals to sample). Better to stick with her "Tanto Tempo" album.
Joao Gilberto's daughter releases an album of bossa nova originals and well chosen covers including tracks by Chico Buarque, Baden Powell, and the classic "So Nice (Summer Samba)" by Marcos Valle. Bebel's helped out along the way by Mario C (Beastie Boys), Thievery Corporation, and Amon Tobin, but their more techno influences are kept to a minimum on this simple, exceedingly pleasing album. If you want sunny day mellow mood music, this is it. If you want something more complex and unpredictable, try Caetano Veloso or Joyce.
Ms Gilberto's popular album "Tanto Tempo" gets a proper remixing by such notables as Peter Kruder (minus Dorfmeister), King Britt, and 4Hero. So much more satisfying than the less than thrilling "Sem Contencao" remix ep that came out shortly after the album.
From the speed with which her new cd is flying out the door, Ms Gilberto clearly needs no introduction.
Her admirers are sure to be happy campers once they hit 'play' on their cd players 'cause her self-titled sophomore effort is another heart-melter! Overall, it takes a slower tempo than her debut Tanto Tempo, but is no less bountiful in the grace and elegance department. Definitely for those looking for something 'soft 'n' romantic'. Her lovely, breathy vocals draws you near as her splendid backing band swings along effortlessly holding the world at bay. Crikey, did I really write that?! Shows you the effect of Ms Bebel. Os Mutantes alert: Ms Gilberto opens the album with a dreamy cover of their song "Baby"!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One of the finest examples of bossa nova music, this record from 1973 was made just as its cultural influence was waning. But what makes this record special is its minimal qualities. It's just guitar, voice and some occasional soft drumming (by Sonny Carr), yet the performance is exceptional! Joao Gilberto is a legendary bossa nova star, right up there with Antonio Carlos Jobim, who wrote most of the genre's biggest hits. It was Gilberto's version of Jobim's "Girl From Ipanema" with Stan Getz that made bossa nova an international sensation in the mid-sixties (though Gilberto's fame may have been eclipsed in America by his wife, Astrid, who became an overnight star from that song).
But Aguas De Marco, as this self-titled album is usually referred to, shows that one doesn't need a lot of window dressing to make a big impact. Gilberto's smooth melancholy vocals and complexly rhythmic but gently wistful guitar playing instantly takes us to far off luxurious tropical locales. Yet this isn't just background resort music, Gilberto brings a vital but downplayed longing to his performance that feels like remembrances of a time now past, giving it an unrequited quality that makes this record more endearing with each listen. Bossa Nova at its best!
The last time we were this jazzed (sorry, couldn't help it!) about a jazz reissue of an artist we had very little or no knowledge of beforehand, was the great Lloyd Miller collection, A Lifetime In Oriental Jazz. So it makes perfect sense that Jazzman, the amazing label who brought us Lloyd Miller, is now introducing us to the musical world of Jef Gilson, a talented French musician, arranger, band leader, sound engineer, music teacher, label owner, and multi instrumentalist. The songs that make up this best of collection are some of the most irresistible, suave, soulful and surprising that we've heard in any form in such a long time.
Spanning a period from the early '60s into the '90s this shows so many different facets of Gilson's recording career. From bebop, to orchestral pop, to multi cultural intersections, to hypnotizing operatic excursions. This is forward thinking jazz, filled with exquisite playing but more importantly an endlessly creative and explorative mindset that has left every track on this collection feeling so fresh and alive all these years later. This is one of those records we would like Yo La Tengo to check out next time they were in the store, as we could really imagine Ira and Georgia at home in their living room reading and relaxing while the sounds of Jef Gilson provided the perfect ambience to a crisp fall morning.
80 minutes of music, 32 pages of in depth liner notes, this might just be a contender for jazz we'd never heard of before reissue of the year! Highly recommended.
We first heard the Golden Ring on the amazing compilation Raks Raks Raks: 17 Golden Garage Psych Nuggets From The Iranian 60's Scene, and we knew we had to hear more, and just like that, a collection of 7"s and assorted tracks from the band that was one of the first and most important Iranian garage bands, mixing traditional Iranian music and instrumentation with Western pop of the time, like the Beatles, the results were mindblowing, totally ahead of their time, even know these songs sound incredible, catchy and groovy, but also totally psychedelic and mysterious.
The band never recorded a proper album, which makes this collection all the more amazing, every track here rules, it's a wonder this wasn't reissued ages ago. This is head and shoulders above much of the stuff that gets touted as lost classics.
The collection begins with "Tulip" that sounds like it could have been a Joe Meek production, in fact much of this record had us thinking it could have been a made up band masterminded by Meek, it's that far out, and that brilliant. "Tulip" adds swirling organ to twangy surf guitars, definitely offering a nod, intentional or otherwise to the Telstars, but it's track two where things get really good.
"Beauty" begins with tinkling melodies, and Bollywood like vocals, the sound swirling and definitely psychedelic, very dynamic and groovy, but them in come soaring operatic female vocals, and did we mention the stop start breakdown complete with whistling, so good, so totally classic, but at the same time, so unlike any of the other vintage garage rock we've heard.
And so it goes, much of the record is definitely very Middle Eastern sounding, almost like Iranian folk music given a garage makeover, the Beatles influence is definitely all over the place, as is plenty of whistling, and more of that swirly organ, the production is fantastic, lush, but definitely experimental, there's harmonica, giving those tracks a twangy Morricone vibe, there are dizzying organ driven rockers, the sound murky and washed out, the melodies tangled and weirdly atonal, there are some parts that sound very Bollywood, others just sound totally far out.
"Sun Full Moon" is a favorite, the whole song warped and warbly, guitars bending and swerving, the harmonicas practically melting, it sounds like the pitch is constantly shifting, like a mistake in mastering, but the result is super tripped out and amazing. This whole collection is just fantastic, hard to work on the list cuz this is pretty much all we want to listen to. Totally recommended.
With most any album from Buena Vista Social Club pianist Ruben Gonzalez, you can be assured of highly uplifting Cuban music, this one is no exception. Simply gorgeous.
So wonderful! Ry Cooder says Ruben Gonzalez is "the greatest piano soloist I have ever heard in my life. A Cuban cross between Thelonious Monk and Felix the Cat." The liner notes read: "This is the debut album by one of Cuba's national treasures. Made over fifty years after his first classic recordings with the great Arsenio Rodriguez, it was recorded 'live' with no overdubs in two days at Egrem Studios in Havana."
Oh Googoosh! We were pretty thrilled when this came in as we've been anticipating a collection of her recordings ever since many of us first heard her mind blowing track "Talagh" on that great Pomegranates compilation of Persian pop, psych, and funk from the '60s and '70s. Luckily, Iranian singer Googoosh was no one hit wonder, as this collection shows that pretty much every song she made during this era (1970-'75) is totally awe-inspiring. Like the perfect cross between the explosive psychedelia of Selda and the introspective folk of Pari Zangeneh. Her voice reels you in and the music's alluring and dynamic swirling melodies leave you in the throes of serious sonic pleasure.
Much like Turkey's Selda, Googoosh's music had such a brave and fiery political stance to it as well. Sadly much of her music was banned by the Iranian government by the end of the 1970s, and many of her records were literally burned and destroyed. Luckily, from what copies did remain, Andy Votel worked his Finders Keepers magic and has compiled an amazing collection of one of the greatest voices to come out of Iran (and anywhere else for that matter)!
Moogs. Magma. Need we say more? All right, we will. This reissued 1980 album is both very Moog-y and very Magmoid. Mostly instrumental, it was the work of classically trained French pianist Jean-Philippe Goude, who was also interested in jazz, rock, and minimalism, and who had played keyboards with the Magma offshoot band Weidorje in the late '70s. So though this is a solo album, he got a lot of help from various heavy friends... usual suspects from the French prog-synth-rock underground, including members of Magma and Heldon (Klaus Blasquiz, Bernard Paganotti, Patrick Gauthier, Richard Pinhas, Francois Auger, and many more, what a lineup!). Thus this fits in snuggly with the Magma-inspired, jazz meets prog "Zeuhl" movement, especially tracks like opener "Les Saturnales" (with Blasquiz on vocals) or the exciting quadruple-guitar heaviness of "Dies Irae". But this is a varied album, and despite all the guests, two tracks feature no one but Goude alone, including the quite strange and effective soundscape piece "Coma". He also does a piano/synth duet with Heldon's Pinhas on the original album's final track "Cantiliene", which has that sort of Romantic, classical vibe we associate with Cluster's Roedelius. We say original album's final track, 'cause this cd reish closes with a bonus cut, the relaxed, loping, rather happy-sounding "Trio Des Mini-Moogs". Another track we should mention is the fantastic "Machine", wherein the melancholic strings of a chamber music quartet are overtaken by bleeping, burbling mad scientist synth and chugging mechanical beats.
The entire album is a delight, being both experimental and avant-garde, AND mesmerically melodic. Like we said, interestingly varied, but always with an aura of refinement, elegance and careful composition. It makes sense that Goude would go on to make a career out of library music and soundtracks for film and television. Indeed, if we understand the liner notes correctly, several of the tracks here were rearranged from pieces Goude had previously written for a pair of privately pressed lps, commissioned for the use of the French national gymnastics federation (???).
You'll find those extensive liner notes, vintage photos, etc. in the cd booklet. Lion has done their usual thorough labor-of-love job here, although this could have used one more round of proofreading, as we noticed a few insignificant typographic errors. The only potentially confusing one, being that the tracklist on the back cover has the songs numbered 1-12, omitting 5 though, as actually there's only 11 tracks... whoops. But other than that minor glitch, this is nicely done, with the original album's retro-futuristic graphics carefully reproduced. Love the neon-looking script for the text!!
Definitely glad they reissued this, having never heard it before, many of us here at AQ are digging it, even the not so Magma obsessed. And while perhaps "warmer" than some French coldwave, fans of that sort of thing should check this out, it certainly has something in common (including personnel) with Bernard Szajner's stuff, for instance.
Prog fiends! We happen to have just a few copies of this import cd reissue in stock, an instrumental French prog artifact from 1977, so we thought we'd list it for those of you who might be into the moody mixture of romantic piano with grandiose synth drones and occasional bursts of musique concret style "sampling" that is distinctively demonstrated here... While there are several other musicians involved, it'll give you some idea of what this is all about if we tell you (in French) what instruments chief performer and composer Phillipe Grancher is credited with on the sleeve: "piano acoustique et electrique, synthetiseurs, mellotron, orgue, strings ensemble, effets speciaux". This is, apparently, Grancher's only solo album, but it was produced by Philip Bescombes, whose name may be better known to you prog fiendy types, having made several interesting albums of his own, some in collaboration with synthesizer player Jean-Louis Rizet, who also appears here as well.
It's really quite lovely, but with sudden surprises throughout. Lush, pretty piano melodies often trip delicately into the blip-bleep of sci-fi electronics, or even strange giggling voices. And on side two, the album "rocks out" just a bit more, adding electric guitar, bass and drums for extra bombastic effect. As an example, the 10 minute "Flip Flop" begins quite dramatically with the sounds of an explosion, accompanied by ominous synth flourishes and martial drumming, before mellowing out into mesmeric passages for piano and gentle guitar.
3000 Miles Away is definitely a pretty cool prog obscurity, one that we'd perhaps suggest to fans of Goblin, for instance. We can certainly imagine this being used as a soundtrack to some strange and beautiful cult film.
Yet another awesome vinyl-only document from the mighty Sublime Frequencies, this one a continuation of sorts, again exploring the world of Tuareg guitar music from Agadez in Niger, first explored on the amazing Group Inerane release a while back. And strangely enough, both band share members, so folks who loved the Group Inerane will likely love this too.
The music scene in Agadez is unique in many ways, but perhaps the strangest element is the fact that none of the bands can afford to own their own instruments, there is one PA and one set of amps that get passed from show to show, and guitars are borrowed and lent out, as are band members, with musicians joining different groups as they are available. Remarkably, while the sounds are indeed similar, they are also quite unique.
Group Bombino is headed up by 28 year old Oumara Almoctar, aka Bombino, who was inspired by more well known Tuareg musicians like Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure to create his own music and to continue to spread the sounds and spirit of Tuareg and Agadez.
So here we have the first proper worldwide release by Bombino and his group, and it's gorgeous. Two distinct sides, the A side features Bombino's "dry" guitar sound, sort of acoustic, the guitars, spidery and slinky, the percussion simple and spare, hand claps, hand drums, the vocals lilting and emotional, all very repetitive and hypnotic, the vocals chantlike over the propulsive rhythms and the almost looped sounding guitar parts.
The flip side features Group Bombino plugging in and letting loose, the root sound is quite similar, but the guitars buzz and wail, chugging out those hypnotic riffs, but also spiralling out into wild leads, tangled melodies, the drums a bit hard, the vocals sitting further back in the mix, ebullient and joyous, but not without tension and emotion and some subtle sorrow and anger, this is after all the sounds or rebellion and revolution, an outlet for the frustration at the unrest and upheaval in Niger and Agadez. So fantastic.
As with pretty much everything Sublime Frequencies, ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED, and for sure, anyone who dug the Group Inerane (a past Record Of The Week), will go crazy for Group Bombino as well!
Full length number three from this amazing outfit, whose debut, Guitar Music From The Western Sahara, we made our Record Of The Week back in 2008, and whose second record, Treeg Salaam, we probably should have, both of those albums brimming with, as we mentioned in past reviews: "dizzying blasts of lo-fi electric guitar driven rhythmic African folk, clattery homemade percussion, jubilant vocalizing, repetitive and melodic and hypnotic, and super rocking."
This latest lp offers up a different side of the band's sound, songs that adhere to the roots of Saharoui music, the roots of Group Doueh's sound, played mostly on traditional Moorish instruments: the tinidit (a three string lute), the ardin (a kora-like harp), the tbal (a clay drum) and the kass (tea glasses), but this is Group Doueh after all so those traditional instruments are augmented by synths and GUITARS!
The opening track is sooooo gorgeous and sets the tone of the record, darkly rhythmic, lush and layered, sweet tangles of intricate melody, the arrangements emotional and propulsive and jubilant, laced with subtle drones and flurries of rapid fire notes, minimal but still so rich and dense and deep. Not all of the record is so tied to the past, after all the Group Doueh sound we know and love was born of this music, and is not really that far removed, so many of the other songs drift into more familiar territory, although the arrangements and instrumentation remain subtly closer to traditional Saharoui music, but again, since our exposure to that music has mostly been via Group Doueh records... well, you get the picture. Every song here is a fantastic celebration of sound, from sublime desert blues buzz to soaring vocal driven high life, to droned out psychedelia to super stripped down vocal/rhythm jams, and those vocals, again so incredible, so emotional and passionate, the perfect match for the music underneath which exudes the same sort of passion. The final track on side one slips back into a sound more minimal, a sprawl of hypnotic buzz and skitter, totally trancelike and hypnotic before exploding into a noisy psychedelic blowout, perfectly bookending the tracks in between.
The offers up still more fantastic desert blues folk bliss, singing strings, propulsive rhythms, vocal harmonies, some wild serious steel string wrangling guitar action of course, peppered with bits of that more minimal rhythmic traditional music, but all woven into the lush living colorful fabric of GD's gorgeous timeless sound.
As with all Sublime Frequencies vinyl releases, EXTREMELY LIMITED, this will most likely be sold out and out of print in the next week or two, pressed as always on thick vinyl and housed in a super swank, heavy full color gatefold sleeve. ----* ----* Highlights : ----*
Wow! The first vinyl-only (that's right, no plans for a cd we're told) Sublime Frequencies release focuses on a single group rather than an anthology of regional folk and pop or collaged radio broadcasts. Struck by an ecstatically squealing lo-fi blast of electric guitar from a song heard on Moroccan radio, the Sub Freq's main man, Alan Bishop went on a quest for the regional origins of that particular electric sound. Canvassing numerous cassette dealers, he was only able to identify the music as Sahwari and to pinpoint the region as the Western Sahara, a disputed territory nestled on the Atlantic Coast of North Africa between Morocco and Mauritania where frequent political struggles have caused the massive displacement of the region's indigenous people. A few months later, Bishop's colleague, Hisham Mayet, armed with Bishop's recording travelled back to Morocco to continue the search, ending up in the last outpost of the Western Sahara, Daklha, where through the help of the Sahwari shopkeepers was finally led to the creator of the strange music himself, Baamar Salmou, or as he is known in Sahwari, Doueh. Born in 1964. Doueh learned guitar on a homemade instrument fashioned from pieces of wood and steel strings. In 1981, influenced by Mauritanian music as well as Spanish cassettes imported from Europe and America of Jimi Hendrix and James Brown, he formed Group Doueh, fast becoming one of the definitive groups in the region, playing in festivals all over Northern Africa and even in France and Portugal. His wife Halima later joined as a vocalist and percussionist and in later incarnations, Doueh's son Jamal joined on keyboards. The tracks on this release are all taken from Doueh's personal archive except for two recordings made by Mayet, early last year. This is definitely some of the strangest and twisted ethnic music we've heard in awhile with its buzzing lo-fi circular guitar hooks and exhuberant vocalising and infectious rhythms, reminding us of aspects of Konono No1's DIY tinkering, Tartit's desert trance-jams and a bit of the Shaggs self-taught charm (not so much in sound, but how a lot of the guitar parts follow the vocals). Limited to 1000 copies, this is so awesome and highly recommended!!
Treeg Salaam came out on vinyl a while back, but disappeared so quickly, we never had enough to review, and before we knew it, it was out of print. So we waited and waited patiently, hoping, fingers crossed, that this too would get released as a cd and we're happy to report it finally has!
If you remember, last year we made Group Doueh's Guitar Music From The Western Sahara our Record Of The Week, and folks went crazy for it, ourselves included. A dizzying blast of lo-fi electric guitar driven rhythmic African folk, clattery homemade percussion, jubilant vocalizing, repetitive and melodic and hypnotic, and super rocking.
This latest collection is culled from the group's personal cassette archive, and definitely displays all the sides of this versatile group.
The record opener is all simple percussion, warbly wah guitar, keening vocals, group background harmonies that follow the guitar melody, mantra like and completely mesmerizing. But it's the second track where the group lets loose, with super distorted tinny guitar, whipping up a wild buzzy squall, the rhythms relentless and intense, the vocals a wild smattering of hoots and hollers, the guitar part super crunchy, growing ever more intense as the track builds to a frenzied coda before finally fading out.
The next track features some incredible, strangely effected guitar lines, all woozy and warped, super fast picking creates a twisted tremolo sound, male and female vocals intertwined into haunting harmonies, very intense and emotional, draped over that main minor key guitar part. The next track is another heavy guitar jam, the vocals nearly buried by the chunky effected riffing, all muffled and murky, but super driving and intense and wild and kick ass, with a bad ass female vocal breakdown about halfway through, totally soaring and soulful. Group Doueh must be the ultimate party band, these recordings sound incredible, and we can only imagine it sounded even better being there.
Finally, the record closes with the nearly 20 minute "Tazit Kalifa" which begins very raga like, with mumbled electric guitar, over buzzing one string drones, the vocals minimal, almost spoken, simple drums surface part way through, giving the track a little groove, but the guitars continue to buzz and drone, the vocals chanting right along, absolute African raga drone bliss. So great! And once again absolutely and utterly recommended.
Yet another record from this incredible Saharan outfit, number four if you're keeping track, their first was an aQ Record Of The Week, and the other two might as well have been, wild guitar driven African folk, rhythmic and percussive, all very hypnotic and mesmerizing, trancelike for sure, with some incredible vocalizing, soulful and emotional, all wound into some of the most jubilant, energetic, emotional and original music we've ever heard.
Our first impulse this time around was to say that this was simply more of the same, but in fact, the sound has definitely changed, due in no small part to what seems to be an expanded lineup, as the elder Doueh has enlisted his next oldest sons, on synth and drum kit, and it's really the drums that are the big difference. The first track is immediately more propulsive, the production better than ever, the low end thick, the vocals way up in the mix, the drums so hypnotic, and of course the guitars, impossible tangles of super intricate melody, gnarled riffs, all woven into a sound that's surprisingly super rocking.
And actually 'super rocking' might just be the best way to describe the whole record. The aforementioned drums are powerful and ever present, and the guitars remain impossibly wild, wooly and wonderful, drenched in effects, wah and flanger, or some approximation, making the notes and riffs twist into fantastic new shapes, the keyboards adding all sorts of texture, and the newly added trio of female backup singers adds even more oomph, the choruses and call and response vocal harmonies so rich and lush.
There are a couple tracks that stand out, where the band set aside their new rocking-ness, and instead unfurl gorgeous hazily psychedelic expanses of guitar buzz, sounding more like a sitar, the melodies all tangled and interwoven, while the drums offer a deep resonant pulse, and the vocals wail passionately way down in the mix, cuz here it's about the crazy intricate dense guitar playing, which is incredible, so hypnotic and utterly mesmerizing.
The record finishes off with a lengthy jam that is definitely another of our favorites, sounding a bit more laid back than the rest of the record, less buzzy, and more warm and washed out, the guitars unfurling gorgeous little flurries of notes, the rhythms and main riff locked tight so that it almost sounds looped, and at times like the record must be skipping, those moments eventually blossoming into synth laden, softly droney stretches of strummy folk and sun dappled Afro-pop bliss, dreamy and so divine. Like all the records before, utterly fantastic, and totally recommended. We can only imagine how great it must be to see Group Doueh live, but thankfully, we won't need to imagine much longer, as this record coincides with their first US tour!!
Another winner from Sublime Frequencies! We're beginning to think with all this hidden music to be discovered and lost classics to be recovered, there's definitely no point in having so many new bands, we oughta just have some of them swap their gear in and just join the hunt for all this amazing music we miss out on...
But until then we've got the Sublime Frequencies fellas on the case, and this latest discovery has definitely got to bee one of the best yet. Group Inerane are spearheading the Tureg Guitar movement, inspired by the musicians who used this music as a political weapon in the Libyan refugee camps in the late eighties, early nineties. This is how the blues should sound. Groovy, intense, funky, emotional, dark, gorgeous, the guitars grinding and crunching and wailing, slithering and soaring, accompanied by chanted and sung vocals, that are perfectly woven into the lush fabric of the various guitar parts. The riffing is fluid, but also bit jagged and rough. The opening track is a killer. One of the most amazing and intense songs we've ever heard, worth the price of admission alone. Just guitar and vocals, chunky and propulsive, but also weirdly slippery and sinewy, the melody swaying back and forth from major key to minor key, an incredible hook and the riff, well, one of THE best riffs ever.
Most of the rest of the record is more a sort of African surf rock, fuzzy and twangy, with surfy guitar, soaring vocals, the whole thing wild and festive, jubilant and celebratory, but hold up, the final track on side one, "Nadan Al Kazawnin", is something else entirely, with its super distorted grimy guitars, a totally blown out in the red production, the riff looped and hypnotic, the vocals intense and heartfelt, the whole song howling and buzzing, sounding as gorgeously fucked up and raw as some experimental indie avant noise group, the guitar is indescribable, incendiary and white hot, all tangled up with the vocals, and bathed in distortion, wouldn't be out of place on some super limited cd-r... Totally amazing.
Pressed on super thick vinyl. Packaged in a heavy duty, full color gatefold sleeve, with tons of photos and liner notes...
LIMITED ONE TIME PRESSING OF 1000 LPS!
It's always exciting to get something new on Sublime Frequencies, and in this case even MORE exciting, the third in the Guitars From Agadez series, and the second from the mighty Group Inerane, leading lights of the Tureg Guitar Revolution, and in this case, revolution might be an apt description. For with the joy of new music from Group Inerane also comes sadness, as the guitarist of the group, has been shot and killed in the ongoing rebellion battles, and Inerane mainman Bibi Ahmed barely escaped with his life from the very same battle.
Hard to imagine a group like this continuing to play music, and tour and perform, in the face of such constant dangers, but for Group Inerane, Group Bombino, and other Tureg Guitar groups, this music is their rebellion, their statement, how they speak out against the senseless loss of life and oppression, and it's that emotion and energy that seeps into every not, every chord, every vocal. Extremely powerful and intense, which is also what imbues the music of Group Inerane with an ineffable magic, that had us utterly entranced at first listen, and this record follows suit.
To replace their fallen comrade, they recruited Koudede, aka Absoulahi Maman, a legendary Tureg Guitarist in his own right, the resulting chemistry is indeed potent, the sound not much changed, but the energy and interactions of course subtly different.
For those new to Group Inerane and Tureg Guitar music in general, just check out the cover, a guitar player in a super fancy satiny robe, holding his guitar up over and behind his head as he presumably SHREDS! Inside, blurred photos of the band rocking out, and that's precisely what Group Inerane traffics in, high energy desert blues, psychedelic and cyclical, hypnotic and in its own way HEAVY.
The sound is warm and sun dappled, celebratory and effusive, plenty of twang and buzz and jangle, simple motorik drumming, intensely emotional and powerful vocals, with lots of whooping and cheering and call and response, emblematic of the hope and joy in the face of the grim realities all around them. The guitar playing is of course incredible, super buzzy and mesmerizing, cool little melodic tangles, locked in tight with vocal counterpoint, or a skittery rhythm, the sound manages to be both loose and free, but also tight and locked in, the recording here is live in a room, so the sound is raw and immediate and intimate, the vocals wreathed in natural reverb, the guitars ringing out, fleck of traditional folks music woven int the groups psychedelic hypnotic desert blues, and while every track is gorgeous, and mesmerizing, like all great guitar bands, it's when they let loose, stretching out the end of a song space rock style, and let the guitars howl and sing and get all tangled up in each other, jams that could, and should go on forever, and these guys definitely have that in them, and when it happens, it's like some glorious Tinariwen / Hawkwind collision.
As always, so so good, and like much of the music we hear from Sublime Frequencies, it's so much more than just the music, we lose sight of that sometimes, but these sounds, and songs, these are people's lives, and hopes, and dreams, and it's their way to be strong and never give in. And listening to this, beyond the sheer joy and exuberance of the music, it's humbling to share in those emotions, and in this music.
Gorgeous deluxe full color gatefold sleeve, with tons of photos and plenty of liner notes. EXTREMELY LIMITED, and vinyl only (for now)...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Volume four in the ongoing Sublime Frequencies Guitars From Agadez series, comes in the form of this extremely limited tour 7" from Group Inerane, and it might just be the heaviest most hypnotic jams we've heard from these guys so far. Which is saying a lot.
The A side, which plays at 33, features two fierce numbers, the first, some seriously distorted desert blues, fuzzed out guitars, wild drumming, a propulsive groove, spidery mesmerizing melodies, all distorted and in-the-red. The other track is a wild dense tangles of heavy guitars and soaring vocals, swirling and dizzyingly rocking, the sounds blurred and buzzy and gloriously incendiary.
The flipside, which plays at 45 rpm, offers up another fiery, blistery, buzzing Afro-blues blowout, all churning distorto guitars and some incredible, guitar playing, the sort of guitar mastery that puts most other technical shredders to shame, so tranced out and hypnotic, groovy, fuzzy and so so soulful.
And again, ULTRA limited, these could very well be the last copies we can get...
Deranged Swedish garage prog from the early seventies. Like a punkier version of Trad Gras Och Stenar, but much looser and less focused on repetitive mantra jams. T-Doja chronicles both of their rare lps Uti Var Hage from 1970 and Gudibrallan II from 1971. Far out!
Okay, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The always amazing Ethiopiques series continues on past volume 20 with no end in sight. We were wrongly led to believe that volume 20 was to be the last in this, one of our all time favorite series, and we were heartbroken. On top of that, the final installment was quite surprisingly a live recording of modern day American musicians jamming with an Ethiopian band. It was still cool, but it was a bit tough to figure out why the curaters of this series would choose to go out on that kind of admittedly anticlimactic note, when there were certainly hundreds of buried treasures from the golden age of Ethiopian music that most definitely deserved to be unearthed. This newst volume quickly sets everything right, being entirely the solo piano of a woman named Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. Her playing is devastatingly lovely and haunting. A curious hybrid of old time jazz and classical, but still truly Ethiopian. Dark and contemplative, moody but subtly playful as well. Culled mainly from recordings from the late 40's early 50's, a period during which Guebrou had recently left the convent due to illness, and then continued to compose and perform as a way of raising money for charity. And THAT's on the heels of having moved to Egypt and then returned to Ethiopia a figure of high society, her dream of playing piano dashed by the Emperor, which led her to sickness and then near death, she even received the last rites, survived and then joined the Imperial Guard, went back to school to study business finally fleeing to join a convent and become a nun. All the while continuing to play music, in fact she continues to perform to this day, in Ethiopia where she still lives, four of her most recent recordings (from 1996) are included here as well.
Her story is amazing, the liner notes go into great detail about her fantastic and adventurous life, but her music is equally as remarkable, the sound and feel is so dense with memory and imagery, musical but somehow quite visual, warm and woozy, a fuzzy, sepia toned old timey feel, due in no small part to the recording, which is quite reminiscent of old 78's, the soundtrack to movie Crumb, that sort of thing, dark rumbling low notes underpin sweet swirls and delicate flurries of minor key melody, sweet and lowdown for sure, warm evenings, back porches, big beautifully appointed parlors, huge empty fields, grass waving in the breeze, long late night wanders, moonlight strolls, so completely dreamy and lovely. Definitely one of out favorites so far in the series. We hope it never ends!
Teranga Beat is yet another amazing world music label, who along with Sublime Frequencies, Yaala Yaala, Sham Palace and a few others, continue to discover some of THEE most amazing sounds around. Halleli N' Dakarou is a live recording from a West African outfit called Guelewar, their last in fact, captured in 1982, and is a fantastic document of the group, often described as one of the more/most psychedelic bands from Africa, due in no small part to their mix of classic African songcraft with more modern instrumentation, most notably, the Mini-Moog, which the band use to wreath their heady fuzzy Afro-funk in wild squiggly melodies and woozy swirling textures, the synth often all tangled up with spidery guitar melodies, and intricate rhythms, the band featuring SEVEN vocalists, and THREE percussionists, as well as a guitarist who is credited solely with "Guitar Solo".
While the sound won't be unfamiliar to fans of West African music, Guelewar definitely had their own unique take on the sound, tranced out and cyclical, most definitely psychedelic, the percussion creating a dense grooving framework beneath a constant swirl of melodies, super dynamic, funky for sure, but also mesmerizing and drone-y, many of the melodies almost raga like, wound around spiralling cascades of notes, as well as brief blurts of distorted psych guitar, the sound slipping easily from a jubilant high-life to warped synth driven grooviness, to something much more brooding and mysterious. Incredible stuff!
The packaging too is ace, super striking cover art, and extensive liner notes with tons of rare photos.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Here is a fine collection of recordings featuring the ever capable vocalist Cascarita. Recorded between 1944 and 1946 with the backing of Cuba's most famous of Orchestras, Orquesta Casino De La Playa (plus three tracks recorded with Orquesta Siboney de Pepito Torres in Puerto Rico) Cascarita has one of the most amazing voices in Cuban music, completely reckless, half laughing and yelling, but always in control. Though the liner notes don't give indications as to the performers on this recording, but 10 to 1 the pianist is either Perez Prado (who Cascarita helped to land a job with Orquesta Casino De La Playa) or Anselmo Sacasas. Either way, the piano playing alone should be enough reason to buy this recording - top notch played with that combination ham fistedness and delicate finesse.
Chinese punk!! In folded silkscreened poster packaging that's probably all stuck together...
There's an ongoing argument at aQ headquarters about which is more preferable: a selection of a artist's musical works or the -complete- recordings. Of course that questions is completely relative to which artist one is talking about, and everyone will have a totally different opinion based on who you ask. But it instantly came to mind when we got this gorgeous new Mississippi reissue of Gurdjieff Harmonium Improvisations.
A little backstory: The fascinating Georg Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866-1949) whom some of you will know much better as a thinker and philosopher than a musician, was an early twentieth century Russian mystic (and retired hypnotist), who drew inspiration from Sufism, and was fascinated with music. Gurdjieff had composed for piano for some years, but late in life he acquired first a wire recorder, and then a tape recorder, to document his improvisations (his "moosic") on the harmonium, a sort of pump organ, that produces a sound that is rich and full, a sort of lush, wheezing melodious moan, haunting and otherworldly. He would often record these performances after hosting dinners and various social gatherings in New York and Paris both during its occupation and then right after the war had ended. Most of the surviving recordings come from the last year of his life.
Awhile back we got in a sprawling multi-disc / hardcover book box set on Basta (which is now sadly out of print), of his complete Harmonium Recordings. Over two cds, AND a third disc of mp3s, the entire output was 53 tracks and about 19 hours! That's a lot of harmonium recordings, and needless to say a bit daunting to take in and absorb, even if it was totally amazing. But what was really cool about that vast collection was the super intimate performances and long durations of the pieces (most in the 9-20 minute range), the sound of the harmonium peppered with all sorts of incidental ambience. It seems that Gurdjieff would perform a piece, slow and sad and gorgeously dreamy, enveloping all of his listeners in the mood, and when he was finished, he would then crack jokes and make small talk. Many of these performances feature this strange juxtaposition of almost religious intensity, and breezy lighthearted banter, which was somehow another part of his unique world view.
This current collection on Mississippi was originally issued as a French private press release in 1971 and is a sampling of seven performances between April and October of 1949. While taken from the vast collection of recordings, we believe they were edited down for length with much of the external ambience (banter, coughing, bellow clatter, etc) taken out, save for a final "Amen" at the very end of side 2, which is totally apropos, given the spiritual quality of the performances. The music though, is wonderful and completely mesmerizing, offering up lush, meditative, ritualistic, droney, melancholic harmonium music, a distant dark mystery, as if these minor key sounds were pulled from the ether, captured from another world and another time. Not quite ragas, more like slow and sad oceanic sea shanties. At once recognizable, but at the same time totally alien.
An early predecessor to the searching individualistic devotional recordings of Joakim Skogsberg, Daniel Higgs and Malachi, this is a perfect antidote for those seeking an immersion into Gurdjieff's mystical sound world without having to commit to a complete lifetime of listening.
A NOTE ABOUT THE SOUND SAMPLES: Due to the different title methods used between this record and the Basta collection, we couldn't find an exact match for sound samples, so we took similar sounding pieces from the same period from the Basta collection so you can get an idea of what this sounds like more or less.
We're really feeling the early house music vibe these days. Sometimes we just want to slip into some tiny hot pants and roller boogie away (sez Allan? Scott? Andee?). At least that's the feeling we get from this comp from Ghana's prodigious keyboardist Kiki Gyan and his disco-era music from 1978 through 1982. As this release's liner notes explain, Gyan got into recording disco tracks after he defected from Osibisa, the influential pan-African outfit that helped start the whole UK Afro-rock scene in the late '60s. In his post-Osibisa years, Gyan continued fusing African highlife sounds, jazz, blues, soul, and rock with fellow Osibisa defectors. As Gyan became swept up in Europe's cocaine-fuelled party scene, he and collaborator recorded the title track. "24 Hours In A Disco" has all the lush violin arrangements and falsetto vocals common to popular '70s disco tracks, but it also includes a bongo breakdown! Unfortunately Gyan wasn't always the nicest guy, and he stripped Ayivor's vocals from the original recording and re-released it in Nigeria without his bandmate's permission so as to horde the profits. That's the version you're getting on this comp. We haven't heard the original, but with its super-tight conga playing, this one is still pretty spectacular. On "Keep on Dancing" Gyan adds steel drumming into the mix along with a cowbell breakdown. "Disco Dancer" features some great syncopated hand-clapping and Gyan's slap bass work and funky keyboard lines. The atmospheric vocals here will lift any disco denizen into the heavens. Many of the tracks would be right at home at Larry Levan's Paradise Garage or even David Mancuso's super-underground Loft parties. All the cuts on this comp work really well as a cohesive album and you'll find yourself playing it from start to end and then back to the start again!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
In terms of 'keywords' this review should go something like this: Hala Strana, Jewelled Antler, Thuja, Steven R. Smith, Mirza, limited edition cd-rs, Eastern European folk music. Eh? Ok, now some of you are already clicking ADD TO CART or headin' down to our store. But if all that was more-or-less gobbledygook to you, let's elaborate. Hala Strana, which you may already have encountered as an entry in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs, is a project of LA-based multi-instrumentalist (and multi-instrument builder) Steven R. Smith, who is a member of Jewelled Antler flagship improv psych group Thuja and a solo artist in his own right. Hala Strana is his vehicle for instrumental droned-out Eastern European folk music appreciation/interpretation, and really represents some of his finest work to date. Multitracking turns Steven R. Smith into a one-man village orchestra, playing everything from violin to optigan, bul bul tarang to gourd guitar, harpsichord to clay flowerpots! Bouzouki, cello, harmonium, percussion, etc. These songs also incorporate snippets of field recording tapes and sampled recordings of traditional music. Plus some of his Thuja cohorts also show up to help out.
Many of the tracks are based on traditional folk tunes from Hungary, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, and other Balkan backwaters. If you've heard any of the wonderful Muszikas records, you'll understand Steven R. Smith's inspirations. His arrangements and instrumention turn 'em into total folk-psych gems, reminding us of certain krautrock bands, International Harvester, the Dirty Three, Kemialliset Ystavat, Black Forest/Black Sea, all sorts of good things. Utter old world beauty meets underground drone aesthetics = some kind of Transylvanian trance music. Really nice. And we're looking forward to *another* new Hala Strana disc, a cd being released on Emperor Jones next week. That one's gonna be good too. But Fielding is hard to top. After all, there's TWO discs worth of music, and a handsome, handmade lil' booklet of art and text included. Unfortunately, there's only about 25 of these still available, so act fast!
Every time we get in a new album from Steven R. Smith's Hala Strana it's as if we've been magically, mystically transported to one of the Olde World vistas with which he always adorns his cd covers (this one comes from the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493). He's an Eastern European influenced, drone-folk one-man-band, crafting gorgeous, mesmerizing, sometimes melancholic instrumental compositions in his home studio, incorporating sundry ethnic instruments and tapes and field recordings, in a manner quite in keeping with that of his Jewelled Antler brethren (instrument-builder Smith is an alumnus of Thuja, you might know). Only three of the songs here are authentic traditional tunes (from Latvia, Hungary, and the Caucasus), but all the rest of them also seem to derive from an ancient, far-off land of Smith's imaginings...organic, rustic, autumnal...music for meandering along a trickling stream, lazing in a meadow, peering at distant crags through a morning mist, or drinking in a ruined old tavern at night. Harmonium drones and gently plucked strings and wheezing accordion and keening hurdy gurdy (and more) are all woven by Smith into the medieval tapestry of Hala Strana's music. Ah, we love it. These Villages is Hala Strana's fourth release -- we can't say it's the best yet, only because the others were also so superlative too. Quite recommended.
Another wild blast of African electronic music from the Sahel Sounds label (who also gave us the Music From Saharan Cellphones comps, and amazing records from Mammane Sani Et Son Orgue, Agali Ag Amoumne, Alkibar Gignor, and tons more!). Much like the tracks on Music From Saharan Cellphones, Hama, a composer/synthesizer player from Niger, enjoyed immense popularity throughout his country via the unlikely music distribution of digital recordings on memory cards, traded and played on cellphones. But it's not just the method of distribution that's special/unique, Hama has created a strange hybrid of influences, from American techno, to African folk music, the resulting sounds are all over the sonic map, some like some spaced out krautrock ("Ataraghine"), others like wild video game music, playful and fun ("Tarhanam"), still others like some avant African kosmische, with the synth sounding almost like an alien bagpipe (or maybe a little reminiscent at times of aQ faves Amps For Christ), the rhythms, motorik, and occasionally robotically funky, the whole thing like some futuristic tranced out Tuareg music. So good. Fans of all the Sahel Sounds releases (as well as everything on Sublime Frequencies, Awesome Tapes From Africa, etc.) will definitely dig big time!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Hand screened sleeves and hand-stamped labels.
Wow, this lost Swedish eastern-tinged psych-folk gem from 1970 gets a deluxe reissue. Handgjort means "handmade" and all of the original copies of the record were individually made by the band members. The reissue is on the expensive side, even for the Silence label, but that's because the label worked with the band members to make an exclusive replica of the original record with, again, unique individually handpainted covers! It also features a 32 page book about the band complete with all the reproductions of the original covers and other interesting photos of the band, as well as bonus tracks from live performances from the festival at Gardet in 1970 and 1971. Imagine a more moody Incredible String Band with less singing and more sitars and tablas!
This cd is limited to 600 copies. Also, there is an exclusive double lp version on Psykofon that is even more expensive (in the $70 range) that features 25 minutes of live material not on the cd. We probably won't get those for the store, but if anyone is interested, we can special order it for you.
If your thing is rock music (or pop, or rap, or country, or whatever) and you're inclined to make music, well that's probably the genre of music you're going to be making, right? So if someone's super into "world music", and can't get enough Javanese gamelan or Morroccan trance or Indian raga or Tuvan throat singing... well then that someone would probably come up with their own music in that vein, and that might sound a lot like Harappian Night Recordings! Imagine the murky improvs of Thuja or Kemiallisat Ystavat going full tilt into anything goes "ethnological forgery" territory, an experimental exercise in dronological DIY exotica.
The Bo'Weavil label is known for both reissued old time folk and modern day folky sounds from around the globe, every thing from Anne Briggs to Zadik Zecharia. This fits right in, the music of Harappian Night Recordings aka the UK's Dr. Syed Kamran Ali being a one-man synthesis of sounds both East and West, mostly East... with a collection of ethnic instruments from around the globe and an equally broad range of musical-cultural influences, HNR generates mysterious, lively soundscapes both rhythmic and droning. There's sixteen tracks here in this disc's approximately 42 minutes, some brief atmospheric interludes, others more fully-developed songs that could be dances and ceremonies of ancient origin. While you might think this was the work of a DJ with a collection of dusty international 78s to sample, apparently this only SOUNDS like a mix of authentic field recordings, instead all of it was composed and performed by HNR's Dr. Ali! (We say apparently 'cause we still suspect that some of this must be sampled.)
He rattles drums and twitters flutes and strums ouds and pumps harmoniums... and occasionally chants and sings as well - the track "The Widow Chang, Lady Pirate" boasting maniacal vocals that wouldn't be out of place on a Sun City Girls album, and in fact we're sure that much of this disc will appeal to SCGs fans, the whole thing coming across as it does like a mashup of music culled from the Sublime Frequencies library! In a similar spirit as the SCGs, this is done with a slightly hallucinatory, gonzo intensity (the Bo'Weavil press release likens HNR's music to "a Cuban guerilla force stepping on Eisenhower's throat, emptying their glorious bladders on his face" among other things). And certainly the warp and warble and distortion inherent in the lo-fi production adds to that sometimes dark atmosphere, though HNR's music is melodic too, often quite catchy, bouncing along ecstatically. Along with the SCG's, we'd recommend this to fans of Siamese Temple Ball (another, possibly, faux-ethnic recording) and the cross-cultural mythmaking of Hungarian composer Laszlo Hortobagyi. But while Hortobagyi invented his own, unknown fake culture, the folk music of which he purported to "document", the HNR's hybrid sounds don't pretend to be from anywhere in particular, making overt if cryptic allusions to many traditions from the far corners of the real world... A quick trip over to Wikipedia clued us in to the meaning of this disc's title, also the name of one of its songs, it comes from a fairly bizarre bit of Indonesian mythology - Hainwele the "Coconut Girl" being a mythical being who had the ability to, ahem, excrete valuables, such items as golden earrings, coral, porcelain dishes, and, indeed, "glorious gongs"! No doubt the other track titles are referencing equally interesting folklore... but even without doing further internet research, your imagination will have much to work with from the sounds and music here alone. Fantastic, in the several senses of the word. But if you would like some visual input, a cinematic analog to the sort of field recording collage that these Harappian Night Recordings resemble, check out the YouTube video for HNR's track "Headless Mule" found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AzLV7zDMtM
