Snap, Crackle & Pop

Snapper - Shotgun Blossom (1990)

2012-02-15T21:24:00.003Z

Noisy, motorik indie-pop from New Zealand. Snapper were formed in the late '80s by Peter Gutteridge, previously a member of New Zealand favourites The Chills and The Clean, but Snapper wore their punk attitude and love of Neu! and Suicide on their sleeves and came out with their teeth bared.

Tracklist:

01 Pop Your Top
02 Can
03 Telepod Fly
04 Eyes That Shine
05 Dark Sensation
06 Dead Pictures
07 Snapper And The Ocean
08 What Are You Thinking
09 Hot Sun
10 I Don't Know
11 Emmanuelle
12 Dry Spot
13 Rain

Get it HERE.

C. Arjun - Jai Santoshi Maa (1975)

2012-02-12T20:04:00.005Z

Jai Santoshi Maa is a low budget 1975 Hindi film that was the surprise hit of the year and which brought Santoshi Maa, a little known Hindu Goddess, the wider attention of the Indian public. Usha Mangeshkar, sister of both Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, sings many of the beautiful devotional songs on C. Arjun's great soundtrack.

Tracklist:

01 Main to Arti Utaron
02 Yahan Wahan Jahan Tahan
03 Mat Ro Mat Ro Aaj Radhike
04 Yahan Wahan Jahan Tahan
05 Karti Hoon Tumhara Vrat
06 Mada Karo Santoshi Mata

Get it HERE.

Patty Pravo - Per Aver Visto Un Uomo Piangere E Soffrire Dio Si Trasformò In Musica E Poesia

2012-02-11T15:30:00.003Z

I picked up two Patty Pravo LPs in a charity shop a couple of years ago and this one has really grown on me. Patty started out as a nightclub singer in the mid '60s, she has the honour of being the first pop singer to have a song played on Vatican Radio. This is her 1971 foray into orchestral prog-rock histrionics, I don't understand the Italian she sings but to me she conjures filmic images of a startled awakening from a '60s dream, aimless glamour, cynical and dead-eyed jetsetters in Rimini nightclubs, smashed ashtrays and hysteria. Maybe you'll like it.

Tracklist:

01 Morire... Dormire... Forse Sognare
02 Lanterne Antiche (Antique Annie's Magic Lantern Show)
03 Poema Degli Occhi (Poema Dos Olhos Da Amada)
04 Storia Di Una Donna Che Ha Amato Due Volte Un Uomo Che Non Sapeva Amare (The Same Old Chair)
05 Preghiera (Bright Tomorrow)
06 Un Uomo Una Donna Una Bambina (Do Yourself)
07 Un Volto Bianco Sulla Neve (I Do Love You)
08 T. L. & R. (Thunder Lightning And Rain)
09 Follow The Lamb

Get it HERE.

Maria Bethania - A Arte de Maria Bethania (1975)

2012-02-06T21:17:00.003Z

Alright folks, you're in for a treat tonight. I picked up this scratchy old gem in a record & tape exchange in Notting Hill a month or so ago and its been getting played to death in my house. There's quite a lot of crackle on this I'm afraid, but the sheer quality and brilliance of Maria Bethania's music shines through. The recordings on this 1975 compilation album are quite simple exquisite. Her songs are sophisticated and urbane, yet vibrant and full of emotion, romance and drama. It sounds like there's a fearsome intelligence at work here and maybe that is why she's one of Brazil's most popular and biggest selling female singers.

Tracklist:

01 A Tua Presença
02 Mariana, Mariana
03 Dia 4 De Dezembro
04 Maria Bethânia & Edu Lobo – Pra Dizer Adeus
05 Texto Nº1 De Fernando Pessoa: O Mar (Canção Praieira)
05.1 Suíte Dos Pescadores
05.2 Avarandado
06 Bom Conselho
07 Bom Dia
08 Drama
09 Movimento Dos Barcos
09.1 Baioque
09.2 Texto De Luiz Carlos Lacerda: Esse Cara
09.3 Bodas De Prata
09.4 Tatuagem
09.5 Texto De Fernando Pessoa: Volta Por Cima
09.6 Eu Sou A Outra
10 Sinal Fechado
10.1 Roda Viva
10.2 Rosa Dos Ventos
10.3 Cala A Boca, Bárbara
10.4 Resposta
10.5 Demoníaca
11 Coração Ateu (Da Novela Gabriela)
12 Janelas Abertas Nº 2
13 Olhe O Tempo Passando
14 Maria Bethânia & Jorge Ben – Mano Caetano
15 Maria Bethânia & Edu Lobo – Se Eu Morresse Amanhã
16 Cirandeiro
17 Minha História
17.1 Lembranças
17.2 Doce Mistério Da Vida (Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life)
18 Maria Bethânia & Chico Buarque & Nara Leão – Cantores Do Rádio
19 Iansã
20 Estácio Holly Estácio
21 Estrela Do Mar
21.1 Meu Primeiro Amor
21.2 Soneto
21.3 Preciso Aprender A Só Ser
21.4 A Lenda Do Abaeté
21.5 Oração Da Mãe Menininha
21.6 Filhos De Gandhi
21.7 Texto De Clarice Lispector: Luz Da Noite
22 Eu Fui À Europa
22.1 Gás Neon
22.2 Luzes Da Ribalta (Limelight)
22.3 Chão De Estrelas
22.4 Sinal Fechado

Get it HERE.

United Bible Studies - The Lunar Observatory (Foxglove CDr 2004)

2012-02-04T23:11:00.003Z

United Bible Studies are a folk collective from Dublin. With an ever changing line-up the troupe's gentle and meditative improvisations shift and mutate, with spectral melodies drifting in and out of focus like smoke. Their sound on The Lunar Observatory occupies a strange, vertiginous space somewhere up in the clouds, taking in elements of traditional English folk music, experimental improvised jazz and lo-fi noise. I strongly recommend you check this out then have a look at their website and maybe buy some of their music. You could also do worse than check out what's happening over at Foxy Digitalis.

Tracklist:

01		Stag Horn Mountains (Cernunnos Rising)
02		Sea Of Rains
03		The Gibbous Stones
04		Dark Lowland Plains
05		Prosper Henry
06		The Lunar Observatory
07		Old Moon In The New Moon's Arms

Get it HERE.

The Tru-Tones Combo of St. Lucia - Cream of the Crop

2012-01-31T20:57:00.005Z

This was a fantastic find at this Sunday's boot sale - a great set of funky, instrumental cover versions of classic songs we all know and (probably) love. Yes, yes I hear you say, we've heard it all before, and that would be true, but not quite like this.

Wikipedia has this to say about 'em:

"The Tru Tones are a Saint Lucian band led by Ronald "Boo" Hinkson. The band formed in the 1960s and had a significant following in the 70s in the United Kingdom. They recorded five albums and several singles, most famously "Hungry Belly', "Burning Eyes" and "Sexy Thing" (remake of the Hot Chocolate song).

Since the Tru Tones break-up, Hinkson has had a successful solo career and toured across the world."

I imagine the Tru-Tones set the dancefloors on fire in St. Lucia's hotel nightclubs and cabaret venues.

Tracklist:

01 Light My Fire
02 This Guy's in love With You
03 Aquarius
04 California Dreaming
05 It Must Be Him
06 Pan Man
07 House of the Rising Sun
08 By the Time I Get to Phoenix
09 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'
10 Sock it to Me
11 My Way

Get it HERE.

Ikenga Super Stars of Africa (1975)

2012-01-26T20:27:00.004Z

I know this one has popped up on a number of other evil file-sharing blogs over the years, but it really is too good to miss. If you've never come across them before, the Ikenga Super Stars of Africa play the kind of dizzying, funky highlife that is sure to move both asses and minds. The interweaving guitars on these two long songs never fail to send me into a kaleidoscope hypno-trance, and that could never be a bad thing, could it?
And, just in case you're wondering, the file is hosted on mediafire. I've had a think about my options since all this megaupload kerfuffle started, and I've come to the conclusion that we humble muzak bloggers are but small fish. I'm really sorry to those (Moos at Global Groove, Owl at Holy Warbles, the team at Mutant Sounds amongst many others) who have had their files deleted - I can only imagine how upsetting this is - but I'm sure we're all going to be able to find ways to keep on keeping on.

Tracklist:

01 Ikenga Go Marry Me
02 Ikenga in Africa

Get it HERE (while you still can!).

Rais Mohamed Outhnaout

2012-01-18T22:46:00.003Z

It's been a long time since I posted any music from Morocco as I've been too busy trying to keep up with the gorgeous deluge of Mauresque sounds coming out of the fantastic Moroccan Tape Stash to bother posting any of the stuff I have sitting here in my living room. However, I've been playing this tape quite a bit recently and I'm loving the infectious playfulness of it all. The man with the guitar is Rais Mohamed Outhnaout, a musician from Marrakech. I can't find any biography or anything on the internet (Wikipedia is blacked out today!) but there are lots of fairly recent videos of his performances of youtube. Here's one I picked almost at random:

No tracklist I'm afraid, but you can get it HERE.

As usual, any info or help with translations would be much appreciated.

Orchestra Harlow - Electric Harlow (1971)

2012-01-14T14:30:00.003Z

Fantastic electrified salsa from Larry Harlow and his orchstra with the wonderful vocals of Ismael Miranda. There is some fabulously funky electric piano stuff going on here and great rhythms that make it extremely difficult to sit still.

Hope y'all enjoy.

Tracklist:

01		La Revolucion
02		Oiga Mi Guaguanco
03		Quien Lo Tumbe
04		Guasasa
05		Con Dulzura
06		Donde Vas Chichi
07		Lo Que Quieras Hacer
08		Tu Cosita Mami

Get it HERE.

Congo Sevens Number 2 - Various Artists

2012-01-03T20:45:00.001Z

Happy New Year one and all. Hope the new year brings as much joy and light to you as the music in this collection.

Tracklist:

01 Toma I - Orchestre les Noirs
02 Toma II - Orchestre les Noirs
03 Bea - Vicky et l'Orchestre OK-Jazz
04 Rocky a Kovenger Ngai - Vicky et l'Orchestre OK-Jazz
05 Annie Nasiliki - Orchestre Les Rebelles
06 Quatro Bougies - Orchestre Les Rebelles
07 Basi Balukaka Nini - Orchestre Alberthos
08 Kobala Esengo - Orchestre Alberthos
09 Makambo Mibale - Orchestre Bantous
10 Damba - Orchestre Bantous
11 Worriend - Orchestre African Fiesta
12 Ami Maza - Nico et l'Orchestre African Fiesta

Get it HERE.

Congo Sevens Number One is HERE.

Get scans of the covers HERE.

Yard Style Christmas - Various Artists (1981)

2011-12-24T09:36:00.002Z

We're full of the Christmas spirit here at the Snap, Crackle and Pop HQ. The sloe gin is flowing and I've just thrown another log on the fire. I thought I should share the love so here is some festive roots reggae for y'all.

Tracklist:

01 The Tamlins & Trinity - Silent Night
02 Barrington Levy & Trinity - I Saw Mommy Kiss A Dreadlocks
03 Home T-4 & Trinity - Dub It For Christmas
04 Carlene Davis & Trinity - Santa Claus Do You Ever Come To The Ghetto
05 Barrington Levy & Trinity - Flash Your Dread
06 Jah Irie Chorus & Dean Fraser - Sensimilla

Get it HERE.

12 of the Best - Capital Music Store, Nairobi

2011-12-17T20:56:00.004Z

The music on this unloved piece of vinyl from Kenya is simply gorgeous. Twelve fantastic songs featuring delightful guitar picking and very simple percussion, this should go down well with those of you who enjoyed the George Mukabi album I posted earlier in the year. You can read more about the CMS record label here.

Any info about these artists or songs would be much appreciated.

Tracklist:

01 Watoto Hatujubui Kiingereza
02 Niko Taabuni
03 Wanajiita Sisi Wahuni
04 Baba Kumbuka
05 Wimbo Wa Uruma
06 Mpenzi Josifina
07 Vijana Mnayesoma
08 Africa Tusikilizane
09 Mpenzi Katerina
10 Ofafa Jericho
11 Samwell Ndeje
12 Namulia Rehema

Get it HERE.

Black Sun Ensemble - Lambent Flame (1989)

2011-12-11T20:39:00.001Z

Black Sun Ensemble play the kind of unashamed ultra-psychedelia that can easily slip from the interstellar into fried cliche, but they always seem to just stay on the right side of the line never quite spilling into noodling. When they break into some extended freakout or jam its like being launched into the starry skies of some far off desert land. You can read about the band here.

"It was painful for me to keep my eyes open above a few seconds; the light of day seemed to fill the room with a blinding glare. Yet every object, in the brief glimpse I caught, appeared normal in color and shape. With my eyes closed, most of the visions, after the first chaotic display, represented parts of the whole of my body undergoing a variety of marvelous changes, of metamorphoses or illumination. They were more often than not comic and grotesque in character, though often beautiful in color. At one time I saw my right leg filling up with delicate heliotrope; at another, the sleeve of my coat changed into a dark green material, in which was worked a pattern in red braid, and the whole bordered at the cuff with sable. Scarcely had my new sleeve taken shape than I found myself attired in a complete costume of the same fashion, mediasval in character, but I could not say to what precise period it belonged. I noted that a chance movement -- of my hand, for instance -- would immediately call up a color vision of the part exerted, and that this again would pass, by a seemingly natural transition, into another wholly dissimilar. Thus, pressing my fingers accidentally against my temples, the fingertips became elongated, and then grew into the ribs of a vaulting or of a dome-shaped roof. But most of the visions were of a more personal nature. I happened once to lift a spoonful of coffee to my lips, and as I was in the act of raising my arm for that purpose a vision dashed before my closed (or nearly closed) eyes, in all the hues of the rainbow, of my arm separated from my body, and serving me with coffee from out of dark and indefinite space. On another occasion, as I was seeking to relieve slight nausea by taking a piece of biscuit passed to me by H. E., it suddenly streamed out into blue flame. For an instant I held the biscuit close to my leg. Immediately my trousers caught alight, and then the whole of the right side of my body, from the foot to the shoulder, was enveloped in waving blue dame. It was a sight of wonderful beauty. But this was not all. As I placed the biscuit in my mouth it burst out again into the same colored fire and illuminated the interior of my mouth, casting a blue resection on the roof. The light in the Blue Grotto at Capri, I am able to affirm, is not nearly as blue as seemed for a short space of time the interior of my mouth. There were many visions of which I could not trace the origin.

"There were spirals and arabesques and flowers, and sometimes objects more trivial and prosaic in character. In one vision I saw a row of small white flowers, one against the other like pearls of a necklace, begin to revolve in the form of a spiral. Every flower, I observed, had the texture of porcelain. It was at a moment when I had the sensation of my cheeks growing hot and feverish that I experienced the strangest of all the color visions. It began with feeling that the skin of my face was becoming quite thin and of no stouter consistency than tissue paper, and the feeling was suddenly enhanced by a vision of my face, paper-like and semitransparent and somewhat reddish in color. To my amazement I saw myself as though I were inside a Chinese lantern, looking out through my cheek into the room. Not long after this I became conscious of a change in the visions. Their tempo was more moderate, they were less frequent, and they were losing somewhat in distinctness. At the same time the feeling of nausea and of numbness was departing. A short period followed in which I had no visions at all, and experienced merely a sensation of heaviness and torpor. I found that I was able to open my eyes again and keep them fixed on any object in the room without observing the faintest blue halo or prism, or bar of glowing color, and that, moreover, no visions appeared on closing them. It was now twilight, but beyond the fact of not seeing light or color, either without or within, I had a distinct feeling that the action of the drug was at an end and that my body had become sober suddenly. I had no more visions, though I was not wholly free from abnormal sensations, and I retired to rest. I lay awake till the morning, and with the exception of the following night I scarcely slept for the next three days, but I can not say that I felt any signs of fatigue, unless, perhaps, on one of the days when my eyes, I noticed, became very susceptible to any indications of blue in an object. Of color visions, or of any approach to color visions, there was no further trace; but all sorts of odd and grotesque images passed in succession through my mind during part of the first night. They might have been the dreams of a Baudelaire or of an Aubrey Beardsley. I would see figures with prodigious limbs, or strangely dwarfed and curtailed, or impossible combinations such as five or six fish, the color of canaries, floating about in air in a gold wire cage. But these were purely mental images, like the visions seen in a dream by a distempered brain.

"Of the many sensations of which my body had been the theater during three hours, not the least strange was the feeling I experienced on coming back into a normal condition. The recovery did not proceed gradually, but the whole outer and inner world of reality came back, as it were, with a bound. And for a moment it seemed strange. It was the sensation -- only much intensified -- which everyone has known on coming out into the light of day from an afternoon performance at a theater, where one has sat in an artificial light of gas and lamps, the spectator of a fictitious world of action. As one pours out with the crowd into the street, the ordinary world, by force of contrast with the sensational scenes just witnessed, breaks in upon one with almost a sense of unreality. The house, the aspects of the street, even the light of day appear a little foreign for a few moments. During these moments everything strikes the mind as odd and unfamiliar, or at least with a greater degree of objectivity. Such was my feeling with regard to my old and habitual self. During the period of intoxication the connection between the normal condition of my body and my intelligence had broken -- my body had become in a manner a stranger to my reason -- so that now on reasserting itself it seemed, with reference to my reason, which had remained perfectly sane and alert, for a moment sufficiently unfamiliar for me to become conscious of its individual and peculiar character. It was as if I had unexpectedly attained an objective knowledge of my own personality. I saw, as it were, my normal state of being with the eyes of a person who sees the street on coming out of the theater in broad day."

Havelock Ellis - Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise (1898)

Tracklist:

01 Celestial Cornerstone
02 Da Da Is Gaga
03 Sunset On The Sphinx
04 Three Picks In A Bottle (Somewhere Out There)
05 Leviathan Song
06 Lilith
07 The Burning Lamp
08 Beneath The Sapphire Sky
09 Blues For Rainer

Get it HERE.

Alain Goraguer - La Planete Sauvage

2011-12-03T20:40:00.000Z

Lovely, bubbly French psyche soundtrack. You might like it:

Tracklist:

1 Déshominisation (II)
2 Déshominisation (I)
3 Générique
4 Le Bracelet
5 Ten Et Tiwa
6 Maquillage De Tiwa
7 Course De Ten
8 Ten Et Medor
9 Ten Et Tiwa Dorment
10 Ten Est Assomé
11 Abite
12 Conseil Des Draags
13 Les Hommes-La Grande Co-Existence
14 La Femme
15 Mira Et Ten
16 Mort De Draag
17 L'oiseau
18 La Cité Des Hommes Libres
19 Attaque Des Robots
20 La Longue Marche-Valse Des Statues
21 Les Fusées
22 Générique
23 Strip Tease
24 Méditation Des Enfants
25 La Vieille Meurt

Get it HERE.

Betty Harris - In the Saddle (1980)

2011-11-26T08:22:00.003Z

Here's a Saturday morning treat for y'all! Forty minutes of fierce and funky R&B from the Queen of New Orleans Deep Soul. These songs are raw and heartfelt and Betty's incredible voice are perfectly complimented by Allen Toussaint's gritty production.

Tracklist:

01 Ride Your Pony
02 Show It
03 What A Sad Feeling
04 Take Care Of Your Love
05 I'm Gonna Git Ya
06 Nearer To You
07 What'd I Do Wrong
08 Trouble With My Lover
09 Twelve Red Roses
10 I'm Evil Tonight
11 Cry To Me
12 I'll Be A Liar
13 There's A Break In The Road
14 All I Want Is You
15 I Can't Last Much Longer
16 Mean Man

Get it HERE.

Street Sounds Crucial Electro - Various Artists

2011-11-23T23:00:00.001Z

This is a really classy collection of hot electro-funk tunes from 1984. Should bring back some sweet memories for all you folks old enough to remember Afrika Bambaataa, polyester tracksuits and body popping.

This music sounds so fresh, futuristic and progressive its easy to forget that these tracks were produced in some of America's most impoverished ghettos - the Bronx, Detroit, Washington D.C. - at a time when the Reagan's brutal individualism and predatory capitalism were deepening the divisions between communities and between the haves and have-nots. Fortunately, people find ways to express themselves even in the most desperate of times and this music is a testament to that; as Twilight 22 put it:

Huh, deep in the city people live in the streets
You got to be careful of everyone you meet
There’s lootin and shootin’, people stabbin’ and grabbin’
The innocent bystander the police are grabbin’

Ain’t it a pity ‘cause you hate the city
But the way you feel ain’t no big deal
You’ve got to survive and that the real nitty gritty
You go uptown, downtown, you’ve got to turn your life around (Huh)

Back in the jungle a man is free
Free from the street, from captivity
Break out, break in, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been
Snake pit, lion’s den, you need someone to be your friend

My first exposure to this stuff came when I was a schoolboy in 1984 when Channel 4 (I think) showed this fabulous documentary:

Tracklist:

01 Tyrone - Brunson The Smurf
02 Warp 9 - Light Years Away
03 Warp 9 - Nunk (New Wave Funk)
04 Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)
05 Herbie Hancock - Rockit
06 Twilight 22 - Electric Kingdom
07 Cybotron - Clear
08 Hashim - Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)
09 Captain Rock - Return Of Captain Rock
10 Time Zone - Wild Style

Get it HERE.

An Evening with Snap Crackle & Pop Volume 1

2011-11-07T10:00:00.002Z

It's strange how elastic time has become, or maybe has always been. I've been posting here at Snap, Crackle and Pop for just over three years now so I thought it was HIGH TIME for a little mix - around my musical world in 75 minutes or so.

Here is the tracklist, and you'll find that clicking on the artist's name will take you to the original post. Handy eh?

Tracklist:

01 Nico Pourvu & His Romanian Orchestra - Doina de la Titu (Romania)
02 Manitas de Plata - Maure Eglise (Spain)
03 Unknown Artist - Mahjoula (Morocco)
04 Sabah - Dakhlak Tell ou Hakina (Lebanon)
05 Archie Shepp - Blase (USA)
06 Stock, Hausen & Walkman - Gruel (UK)
07 Erkin Koray - Cemalim (Turkey)
08 Simon Jurad - Ambiance Nous (Martinique)
09 R.D. Burman - Dum Maro Dum (India)
10 M'Pongo Love - Ede (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
11 Tabu Ley - Dialogue (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
12 Ann Peebles - Do I Need You? (USA)
13 The Peddlers - On a Clear Day (UK)
14 King Sunny Ade - Akura Nile (Nigeria)
15 Tony Tuff - Jah Almighty (Jamaica)
16 Marehemu George Mukabi - Bibi Mama Ngani Mzuri (Kenya)
17 Los Guaraguao - Juventud Adelante (Mexico)
18 Conjunto Sol Del Peru - Paras Shayan (Peru)
19 Bongwater - One So Black (USA)
20 Maalem El Mansoum - Uled Bambara (Morocco)

Get it HERE.

An Evening in Cairo - Various Artists (1966)

2011-10-10T21:26:00.002+01:00

"It all started with a telephone call and a number of new records. The film star, Ahmed Mazar, rang up his friend, Nadia Loutfi, to say 'hello', and it happened that she was listening to some new songs which had just arrived for her from Beirut. He becomes interested and they listen together over the telephone. They like the songs and express their pleasure over them - so why not have a party? This is exactly what happened and they invited all their friends for a big party where the songs formed the major part of the entertainment, and they spent a wonderful evening.
We, on our part, wanted you to share this evening with them abd this is where the idea of this L.P. can=me into being. As you listen to the conversation on the telephone and to the songs you will also spend one of the most memorable evenings in Cairo."

I'm dubious about all that party talk. Most of the music on the album, beautiful though it is, does not sound like it would go down too well at any party I've ever been to. Maybe its because I don't understand the language, but these songs sound quite sad to my ears. The sound is full of yearning...longing. The music positively aches out of the speakers, whispering of unrequited love and passions unfulfilled, wailing out nameless sorrows and sighing in resignation.

Tracklist:

01 Sabah – Dahlak Tell Ou Hakina
02 Najat Essaghira – Fakkar Ya Habibi
03 Fahd Bellane* – 12 Youm
04 Randa – Vive L'Amour
05 Sharifa Fadel – Yaeish Al Mouallem
06 Fayza Ahmad – Eteraf
07 Samira Tewfik – Allayina Rayatna
08 Abdel Halim Hafez* – Layali And Maoual

Get it HERE.

Ratsia - Ratsia (1979)

2011-10-05T20:45:00.004+01:00

I picked this up at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago. It's ritalin sharp, heads down punk rock from Finland. I'd never heard of them before I found this and never knew that Finland had much of a punk scene in the '70s, so you live and learn.

"Ratsia just missed the first wave of punk rock bands, but their first LP is without a question one of the best of the early Finnish punk rock albums.
Before signing to Johanna, Ratsia had already recorded most of the album's songs in their rehearsal place and released them on tape Kloonattu sukupolvi, but it was a good idea to re-record them in a proper studio, now with Rubberduck Jones of Pelle Miljoona & 1980 as a producer. The first single Lontoon skidit had just been released, and very well received, so the expectations were high. And when the LP came out, it definitely wasn't a let-down, it was full of great, catchy and energetic tunes.
Perhaps the album opener Taidetta summarizes the overall spirit: we have our own thing and do things as we see fit, even if it doesn't please the previous generations or is against their views of aesthetics. Also the then hot topic in Finland, idolizing the American stars of the 50's as a part of the rockabilly revival, and the way the trend was forcefed to Finnish teens by marketing consultants, is critizited (Aikakone), but on the other hand they pay tribute to their own heroes New York Dolls (Kaatopaikan enkelit). Lontoon skidit was re-recorded for the album, this time with Hepa Halme on saxophone. The new version is good and differs little from the single version, but still the original single version is better. There are also two cover tracks, Stiff Little Fingers' Wasted life (Ne ei haluu kuunnella) and The Clash's 48 hours (48 tuntia), both good renditions of the originals.
In the next couple of years Ratsia moved on from the original punk rock style, made two more (different but good or goodish) albums, and broke up. This first album was probably their greatest achievement, and it's a true crime that it still hasn't been re-released (on CD or otherwise)."
Jarkko Kuivanen, Finnmusic.net

Teenage lightning!

Tracklist:

01 Taidetta
02 Yksin
03 Ole hyvä nyt
04 Päästäkää mut irti
05 Aikakone
06 (Mä haluun) R-E-AKTION!
07 Kaatopaikan enkelit
08 Lontoon skidit
09 Ne ei haluu kuunnella
10 Idolit
11 48 tuntia
12 Pikkuaikuinen
13 Ajat sitten luopuneet
14 Me noustiin kellareistamme

Get it HERE.

Akiko Nakamura - Hit Album (1968)

2011-09-26T21:19:00.007+01:00

Akiko Nakamura was a popular actress and singer in Japan in the '60s and '70s. This album was released in 1968 and it features a cover of Scott McKenzie's flower power hit 'If You're Going to San Francisco' amongst all the bubblegum J-Pop. The big hit from the album is 'Nijiiro no mizuumi' (which translates as Lake's Rainbow Colours or something like that). Here is Akiko herself performing the song in some teenbeat movie or other. Its totally swingin' kids:

What can you expect on the album? Well a much more polished sound than found on the clip above featuring a full string section, backing singers, brass section, marimbas, glockenspiels, tiki style rhythms. A wonderfully mixed bag of gorgeousness.

Tracklisting:

01. 虹色の湖 (nijiiro no mizuumi) Rainbow Lake
02. 花のサンフランシスコ (hana no san francisco)San Francisco Flower (i.e. If You're Goin' to San Francisco)
03. 太陽に恋をして (taiyou ni koi woshite) Love in the Sun
04. 愛の願い (ai no negai) Please Give Me Love
05. ラ・ラ・ラ (la la la)
06. ブルー・シャトウ (blue chateau)
07. 砂の十字架 (suna no juujika) Cross in the Sand
08. 別離(わかれ) (betsuri (wakare)) Separation
09. 霧情 (kiri jou) Mist
10. フラワー東京 (tokyo flower)
11. 夢みていたい (yume miteitai) I Want to Dream
12. ロック天国 (tengoku rock) Rock Heaven (I Dig Rock and Roll Music; Peter Paul & Mary)

Many thanks to Richard and Peter for their fantastic translations. Superfast work too chaps!

Get it HERE.

Charlemagne Palestine & Christoph Heemann - Saiten en Flammen (2009)

2011-09-19T20:25:00.002+01:00

This is a very recent release compared to much of the stuff I post here, but its interesting and pretty much unavailable so I thought I'd treat you all to this intense drone work from these two avant-garde hipsters.

Charlemagne Palestine was active in the New York underground scene in the 1960s, a contemporary of characters such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Tony Conrad. He composed and performed long and dramatic improvised pieces on pianos, church organs and carillon bells, filling huge rooms (and listeners heads) with a mass of sound.

Christoph Heemann on the other hand is a German sound artist who's been releasing music since the 1980's when he became loosely involved with the surreal English outfit, Nurse with Wound. He's since worked closely with those esoteric pranksters, Current 93, and the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Lee Ranaldo and Andrew Chalk.

Charlemagne Palestine recorded the Bosendorfer piano piece featured on Saiten en Flamen in 2000. The sound was then processed and messed with by Christoph Heemann in 2007. Mr Heemann has softened the percussive qualities of Mr Palestine's playing and brought the tonal qualities to the forefront. The result is something like having a head full of baritone bees.

Tracklist:

01 Saiten en Flammen (Part 1)
02 Saiten en Flammen (Part 2)

Get it HERE.

Chief Dr Sikiru Ayinde Barrister - Fuji New Waves (1991)

2011-09-13T20:49:00.005+01:00

It's been an awful long time since I posted any of that mindbending Fuji music so here is something else from the late, great Chief Doctor Barrister. Here the Chief Doctor urges us to dance to the new wave of Fuji and uses a non too subtle wall of percussion, slide guitar and incredibly wonky synth noise to coax us onto the dancefloor. Once there, you won't want to stop.

Tracklist:

01 Duka Hausawa
02 New Waves
03 Cinderella
04 Gbaa - e gwu
05 Alhaji Raheem Tejumola
06 Ori o Gbodo Fo
07 Owo Kilani
08 National Pledge
09 Late Alhaji Muniru Gbadamosi
10 Mr Dolapo Badru

Get it HERE.

The Bauls of Bengal (1976)

2011-09-05T20:44:00.003+01:00

This is a reissue of an album released by Elektra Records all the way back in 1966 and its grooves contain delightful musical gifts from some of the wandering troubadors of Bengal. This music is just incredible - definately one for those who groove on the Sun City Girls.

...but...

"Some People have said that it is possible to characterize the Bauls by a distinctive doctrine. I have never found it possible to do so, for it seems to me that they are first and formost individuals, and that the term Baul encompasses a wide range of religious opinion, traceable to several Hindu schools of thought, to Sufi Islam, and much that is traceable only to a man's own view of how he relates to God. All Baul's hold only this in common: that God is hidden in the heart of man, and neither priest nor prophet, nor the ritual of any organized religion, will help man to find him there."

Edward C Dimmock Jr. - from the sleevenotes

Here's a more recent offering message from Purna Das to whet the appetite:

Tracklist:

01 Ki Die Pujibo Hari Charana Tomar
02 Bloey Koey Manush Key Ki Sadhu Kora Jai?
03 Manush Bhaja, Manush Puja
04 Sesher Diney Sheyjon Biney
sung by Purna Das
05 Tumi Jaaliey Geey Moner Aagoon Nivey Geley Naa
sung by Hare Krishna Das
06 Prem Kathati Shuntey Bhalo
sung by Luxman Das
07 Ebar Jeney Shune Namio Saabdhaney
sung by Sudhanhanda Das
08 O're Mone Jele
sung by Purna Das, Luxman Das & Hare Krishna Das

Get it HERE.

Elza Soares & Miltinho - Elza, Miltinho e Samba (1967)

2011-08-13T20:10:00.005+01:00

Gorgeous, delicate and summery samba from Brazil. Try it, you might like it like I like it.

Tracklist:

01 Com Que Roupa - Si Voce Jurar
02 Beijo Na Boca - Moreninha do Pom Pom Grenat - Tem Que Ter
03 Boogie Woogie Na Favela - Bonitao - Eu Quero Um Samba - Pourquoi
04 Se Voce Visse
05 Todd Dia e Dia
06 Enlouqueci - Fica doido Varrido - Obsessao - So Eu Sei - E Bom Parar - Calado Venci - Vai Que Depois Eu Vou - Ja Vae
07 Mal de Amor
08 Antonico
09 Louco de Saudade

Get it HERE.

Los Exitos de Lucho Bermudez y su Orquesta

2011-08-11T07:44:00.004+01:00

This little gem was dug out of a pile of old records in a flea market a couple of months back. Lucho Bermudez was a Colombian clarinet player and band leader who blended local Colombian dance styles such as the cumbia and porro with the big band sound coming from the US. The result is a big, brassy and very danceable noise all pinned down by that heavy cumbia beat. The fabulous Soundway record label have just issued some of this fella's music on 7" which you can purchase here, and there's more lp's to download here and here.

Here's a sample of Lucho's itchy sound:

Tracklist:

01 Los Primos Sanchez
02 Mi Sahagun
03 Jalaito en Monteria
04 Cartagenerita
05 Marlene La Negrita
06 Caracoli
07 Hombre Al Agua
08 Palmar
09 Gaita de las Flores
10 Pacho Herrera

Get it HERE.

Dr Ilaiyaraja - Gold Hits

2011-08-04T21:12:00.005+01:00

I picked up a few cds of Tamil film music at a boot sale about 6 months ago and was lucky enough to find this one which came in the case of a completely different movie soundtrack. What we have here is 18 songs of wonderfully demented Kollywood sounds from Sri Lanka. Expect wild guitars, crazy synths, jarring percussion and impossibly high pitched singing. As the cd came without a cover, I have no idea what the titles of the songs might be so any help with identification would be wonderful. The films though are:

Annakilli (1976)

Badrakaali (1976)

Chittukkuruvi (1978)

Niram Maaraatha Pookkal (1978)

16 Vayathiniley (1977)

Get it HERE.

The excellent record label, Finders Keepers has just released two volumes of film music by Dr Ilaiyaraja (which you can buy HERE), and this is what their website has to say about this chap's wonderful music:

"Ilaiyaraaja, Ilayaraja, Ilayaraaja, Isaignani, The Maestro... The undeniable prince of Kollywood cinema, India's second largest film industry, Ilaiyaraaja is more than equal to his forward thinking contemporaries in Bollywood and Lollywood in both productivity and experimentation. However, once you have exhausted all possible leads using his various names (and the numerous misspellings) you're faced with the unenviable task of sifting through a 34-year career spanning more than 900 film scores in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada in order to unearth some the heaviest dancefloor friendly electronic pop to ever emerge from Southern India.
Impossible to pigeonhole and characterised by his own indefinable style the man is a genre in his own right."

Well, time has passed and the African Music Recycler has been kind enough to provide us with:

Tracklist:
01 - Annakkili (from Annakkili, 1976)
02 - Machsana Pathingala (from Annakkili, 1976)
03 - Muththu Muththa (from Annakkili, 1976)
04 - Anpum Ellai (from Annakkili, 1976)
05 - Attukutti (from 16 Vayathinile, 1977)
06 - Senthoora Poove (from 16 Vayathinile, 1977)
07 - Manja Kulicha (from 16 Vayathinile, 1977)
08 - Sevvandhi (from 16 Vayathinile, 1977)
09 - Ketteley Angay (from Badrakaali, 1976)
10 - Kannan Oru (from Badrakaali, 1976)
11 - Otha Ruba (from Badrakaali, 1976)
12 - En Kanmani (from Chittukkuruvi, 1978)
13 - Adada Maamarakiliye (from Chittukkuruvi, 1978)
14 - Unnai Nambi (from Chittukkuruvi, 1978)
15 - Kaaverikkarai Ponnula Ponnula (from Chittukkuruvi, 1978)
16 - Aayiram Malargale (from Niram Maratha Pookkal, 1979)
17 - Muthal Muthalaga (from Niram Maratha Pookkal, 1979)
18 - Iru Paravaigal (from Niram Maratha Pookkal, 1979)

Many thanks African Music Recycler!

Swell Maps - International Rescue (1999)

2011-07-29T21:27:00.005+01:00

Noisy and experimental, Birmingham's Swell Maps experienced little commercial success during the course of their chaotic career, but in hindsight they stand as one of the pivotal acts of the new wave: not only was the group an acknowledged inspiration to the likes of Sonic Youth and Pavement, but their alumni -- most notably brothers Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks -- continued on as key players in the underground music community.

Although Sudden (vocals/guitar) and Soundtracks (piano/drums) formed the first incarnation of the Swell Maps (named after the charts used by surfers to gauge wave intensities) as far back as 1972, the group did not begin to truly take shape until 1976, when the siblings enlisted bassist Jowe Head and guitarist Richard Earl. In the spirit of punk's D.I.Y. mentality, they formed their own label, Rather Records, and issued their debut single -- the brief, jarring "Read About Seymour" -- in the early weeks of 1978. Local media support soon won the Swell Maps a distribution pact with Rough Trade, but they did not resurface until over a year later with the single "Dresden Style."

In mid-1979, the band released its full-length debut, A Trip to Marineville, a crazy quilt of punk energy and Krautrock-influenced clatter. After the release of the speaker-shredding single "Let's Build a Car," the group recorded one final studio LP, Jane from Occupied Europe, before breaking up. A series of outtakes and singles collections -- 1981's Whatever Happens Next, 1982's Collision Time, and 1987's Train Out of It -- followed, while the members followed their own career paths: Sudden formed the Jacobites, Soundtracks joined Crime and the City Solution, and Head played with the Television Personalities. All later enjoyed solo careers as well.

AMG

Gloriously chaotic compilation of singles, outtakes and unreleased bits and bobs, this record seems to collect together a wonderful bunch of Swell Maps' punkiest numbers and dispenses with their more experimental outings. To remedy that, I have included the two songs, English Verse and Monologues, which make up the b-side of their second 7", Real Shocks.

Here's a taste:

Tracklisting:

01 International Rescue
02 Real Shocks
03 Black Velvet
04 Ammunition Train
05 Ripped & Torn
06 Spitfire Parade
07 New York
08 Forest Fire
09 Winter Rainbow
10 Dresden Style
11 Vertical Slum
12 H.A.K.
13 I Really Love You
14 Hey Johnny! Where's The Chewing Gum?

Bonus 1 English Verse
Bonus 2 Monologues

Get it HERE.

Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Morogoro Jazz (1971)

2011-07-27T20:38:00.005+01:00

Mbaraka Mwinshehe was one of the most popular guitarists and singers in East Africa in the late '60s and early '70s. It's beautiful music, and obviously heavily influenced by the rumba drifting East along the Congo, but this music lacks the fluidity and suppleness of someone like TPOK Jazz, it feels slightly more rigid or regimented. Or maybe its my ears.

Tracklist:

01 Expo 70 No. 1
02 Expo 70 No. 2
03 Bivelina
04 Sarakasi Ya Yasinta
05 Urafiki Mwisho Wa Mwezi
06 Afrika Tuko Tayari Kufa
07 Pole Dada
08 Watalii

Get it HERE.

Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey & His Inter-Reformers Band - Sound of the Moment (1980)

2011-07-22T21:02:00.005+01:00

I'll start by apologising for the lack of recent posts - I've been rather busy with one thing or another and just haven't been able to make the time for music posts.

However, I'm returning with the sweet musical sunshine. I picked up this beautiful chunk of balmy Nigerian juju heat at a recent bootsale and it's helping to make up for the lack of sunshine here.
If you've never heard the juju, then this is as good a place as any to start your habit. If you have, then you'll know the score: gloriously woozy slide guitars, mesmeric talking drums and sublime vocal harmonising all blended up into a lazy psychedelic gumbo.

Previous Ebenezer Obey posts can be found here.

Tracklist:

Side One: Kaiye Mi Ko Dun Ko Dero / Aja Kole Ba Agbo Kan / Ewure Ile Komo Oyi Ode / Mo Mo Iyi Enia Mi / Omode Yi Nwo Mi Loju / Ade Komolafe

Side Two: Chief Muraina Adisa Makinde / Borikan Ba Sunwon / Folaranmi / Kenimani Sebi Ogun Ni

Get it HERE.

Super Jhankar - Naag Mani (1991)

2011-07-06T17:20:00.004+01:00

This is a cassette of fantastic bangra style remixes of songs from the 1991 Bollywood movie, Naag Mani which starred a former Miss India.

Compare and contrast the movie original with the SUPER JHANKAR BEATS version that follows:

Tracklist:

01 Mera Long Gawaacha
02 Dil Toot Gaya Tha
03 Chann Pardesi Mere
04 Aashiqon Ka Naam Hum
05 Parbat Ki Unchaai
06 Dushman - E - Jaan Ko Hum
07 Dil Jo Hamaara Aahen
08 Zindagi Men Jeete Jee
09 Pal Pal Meri Jaan
10 Aao Khelen Sanam Sanam

Get it HERE.

Flamenco Sevens from the Franco Era - Various Artists (2011)

2011-07-03T11:27:00.004+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a few old Spanish singles at a boot sale and I thought I'd share them here.

Flamenco is the product of the collision of the musics of the European Roma with those of the Sephardic Jews and the Moors in Spain. These distinct cultural groups found common ground during the years of the Spanish Inquisition when all were persecuted by the Christian ruling classes. The musical cultures mixed after the Moors, Jews and Gitanos were exiled from the cities of Southern Spain and moved into the mountainous regions in the 16th Century.

"...the beasts were at the rack in the stables and the travellers were at the other end in the kitchen, separated from the stable by two stone steps. At that time, this was the normal arrangement in nearly all Spanish inns. The whole building was but one long room of which the greatere part was occupied by the mules and the lesser by the humans. But it was all the merrier for that. As the zagal saw to the pack animals, he kept up a steady stream of repartee with the innkeeper's wife, who replied with all the liveliness of her sex and station until the more serious minded innkeeper came between them and interrupted the exchanges. They soon started up again, however. The inn rang to the sound of the castanets played by the maids, who danced to the raucous singing of a goatherd. Travellers made each other's acquaintance and invited each other to supper. Everyone gathered round the stove, said who they were, where they were going and sometimes told stories. Those were the good old days; now our inns are more comfortable, but the boisterous social life which the travellers of those days led had a charm I cannot describe to you."

Jan Potocki The Manuscript Found at Saragossa

These singles all look like they date from between the early 1960s to the early '70s and they were possibly produced for the growing tourist market, as this was the time when General Franco started to build the large resorts around the golden coasts of the Mediterranean. But I could be wrong.

Tracklist:

01 Sevillanas - Juergo Gitana
02 Malaguenas - Alfonso Labrador y Cuadro de Baile
03 Fandangos de Huelva - Roque Montoya, Beni de Cadiz y Soledad Jordan
04 El Porompompero (Rumba) - Manolo Escobar y sus Guitarras
05 Fandangos de Huelva - Juergo Gitana
06 Sevillanas - Alfonso Labrador y Cuadro de Baile
07 Alegrias de Cadiz - Juergo Gitana
08 Soleares - Cuadro Flamenco
09 Ave Maria no Morro - Manolo Escobar y sus Guitarras
10 El Primer Bautizo (Bolero Flamenco) - Manolo Escobar y sus Guitarras
11 Tarantas - Cuadro Flamenco
12 Te Canto Con Mis Guitarras (Vals Bulerias) - Manolo Escobar y sus Guitarras
13 Sevillanas - Roque Montoya, Beni de Cadiz y Soledad Jordan
14 Soleares - Roque Montoya, Beni de Cadiz y Soledad Jordan
15 Tientos - Roque Montoya, Beni de Cadiz y Soledad Jordan

Get it HERE.

John Pfeiffer - Electronomusic: 9 Images (1969)

2011-06-27T20:20:00.004+01:00

Last post I hastily suggested that the internet can be a wonderful thing. Then I started reading Paul Virilio's book, The Information Bomb in which he asserted (way back in 1998, when the WWW was still just a rumour for folk like me) that the internet is, among other things, a civilianised military technology that has caused a further shift of gear in the acceleration of reality. Information flows too quickly to ever be grasped or comprehended:

"Motion sickness...was the logical forerunner of instant transmission sickness, with the rapid emergence of the 'Net junkies', 'Webaholics' and other forms of cyberpunk struck down with IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder), their memories turned into junkshops - great dumps of images of all kinds and origins, used and shop-soiled symbols, piled up any old how"

P. Virilio, The Information Bomb, p. 38

Released in 1969, John Pfeiffer's Electronomusic is a strange buzzing, whirring, fluttering beast of sliding tones and oscillating frequencies. The album ends with a track called After Hours which is made up of the martial sounds of frantic typewriters - urgent messages tapped out to important men of power. Telephones ring and tickertape spills from the mainframe. The music builds in speed and intensity and comes to incorporate the sound of the guns and military technology that were being used to in an attempt to defeat the Viet Cong and the spread of Communism. The piece seemed to synchronise with Virilio's theory of dromology.

Maybe you're interested and maybe you're not.

"Drops drop, sounds sound - analogies in rhythm. Drops are forms in space. But a "drop" suggests motion; motion and sounds are events in time. Can sounds then be Drops in time? Perhaps.
Dimensions of time and space occupy our physical attention, our physical being. But our conceptual being can warp time and space limitlessly. Fantasy, imagination, emotion - the transformations of the physical order - can interpret, clarify, contradict, affirm or deny, even create. It happens in moments. And musical events are moments strung together, time ordered, mood ordered. During those moments sound can order the sensory being to re-form time, space and their occupants."

From the sleeve notes.

Tracklist:

01 Warm-Up, Canon And Peace
02 Reflection Of A String
03 Drops
04 Moments
05 Take Off
06 Forests
07 Pavone
08 Orders
09 After Hours

Get it HERE.

Sitara Devi with Choube Maharaj - Kathak Dance of India (1961)

2011-06-15T08:34:00.004+01:00

This is another recent boot sale find. It came without a sleeve but I managed to find a scan of the front cover on a website dedicated to the Gramophone Company of India. The internet can be a wonderful thing.

Sitara Devi is one of India's most famous classical dancers of the Kathak style. The recording on this LP is pretty lo-fi and there seems to be a musical conversation flowing between Sitara Devi and the tabla player throughout of most of the tracks. The rhythms are complex and kaleidoscopic.

Here she is performing in the 1942 film, Roti:

Tracklisting:

01 Moordang Poornam & Trotakam
02 Parangaha
03 Bhav Parangaha
04 Tilwat
05 Tarana
06 Padakriya (Tatkar)
07 Dhamar
08 Choutal-Dhrupad
09 Jhaptal
10 Roopak

Get it HERE.

Mevlana Celaledini Rumi, Ulvi Erguner – Mevlana - Acem Aşiran Mevlevi Ayini (Ersak Records)

2011-06-12T15:37:00.006+01:00

The Mawlawi order was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death, particularly by his successor Hüsamettin Çelebi who decided to build a mausoleum for Mawlâna, and then Mawlâna's son, Baha al-Din Muhammad-i Walad (or Çelebi, Chelebi, meaning "fully initiated"). He was an accomplished Sufi mystic with great organizing talents. His personal efforts were continued by his successor Ulu Arif Çelebi.
The Mawlawi believe in performing their dhikr in the form of a "dance" and musical ceremony known as the Sema, which involves the whirling, from which the order acquired its nickname. The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to the "Perfect". Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the "Perfect". He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, able to love and to be of service to the whole of creation.
The Mevlevi became a well-established Sufi order in the Ottoman Empire by realizing a blood relationship with the Ottoman sultans when Devlet Hatun, a descendant of Sultan Veled, married the sultan Bayezid I. Their son Mehmed I Çelebi became the next sultan, endowing the order, as did his successors, with many gifts.

Many of the members of the order served in various official positions of the Caliphate. The centre for the Mawlawi order was in Konya, where their 13th century guiding spirit, Mawlana (Jelaleddin al-Rumi) is buried. There is also a Mevlevi monastery or dergah in Istanbul, near the Galata Tower, where the sema (whirling ceremony) is performed and accessible to the public.

During the Ottoman Empire era, the Mevlevi order produced a number of famous poets and musicians such as Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Ankaravi (both buried at the Galata Mevlevi-Hane) and Abdullah Sari. Vocal and instrumental music, especially the ney, plays an important role in the Mevlevi ceremony and famous composers such as Dede Efendi wrote music for the ayin (cycle of Mevlevi ceremonial music).

During the Ottoman period, the Mevlevi order spread into the Balkans, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt (and is still practiced in both countries where they are known as the Mawlawi order). The Bosnian writer Meša Selimović wrote the book "The Dervish and Death" about a Mevlevi dergah in Sarajevo.

The Mevlevi Order has some similarities to other Dervish orders such as the Qadiri (founded in 1165), the Rifa'i (founded in 1182), and the Kalenderis.

From Wikipedia

This recent boot sale find contains beautiful recordings of Mevlevi ceremonial music featuring Ulvi Eguner on the ney.

Tracklist:

Side 1: Acem Aşiran Mevlevi Ayini
Nat-ı Mevlana
Taksim
Acem Aşiran Peşrevi
Acem Aşiran Ayini (Birinci - İkinci Selam)

Side 2: Ayin (Üçüncü - Dördüncü Selam)
Son Peşrev Ve Son Yörük Semai
Taksim
Segah İlahi
Son Taksim

Get it HERE.

Groupe Archach

2011-06-11T09:24:00.004+01:00

Here is another of the cassettes I picked up in Marrakech recently. This is vintage stuff from Ali Chouhad and Groupe Archach. Beautiful, meditative and poetic Tachelhit music from the Souss region - fantastic banjo going on here and great percussion, if you liked Izenzaren, you'll love this. This one looks like it was first released in the early '80s judging by the fashions on display in the cover photograph.

I posted a more recent cd by this group some time ago, and that one is wonderful too.

Here's some fantastic archive footage of the band in action to whet your appetite:

Archache "Agharas issoutln orass nzdar" by titrit_2

Tracklist:

Side One: Ash-Shabab / Arja f-Llahi
Side Two: Temment Noujdik / Alili war l-Khayr

In the meanwhile, get it HERE.

Marehemu George Mukabi - Sengula Nakupenda

2011-06-07T21:44:00.003+01:00

George Mukabi (Musical Career 1956 to 1963)
Marehemu George Mukabi was born in Kisa near Kakamega. In his short musical career he recorded less than 30 songs. Each and every one of them without exception was a HIT. His first recording Sengula Nakupenda recorded in 1956 by AGS sold over 100,000 copies within a period of two years.

This record has been rereleased many times ver the years. It has never lost its popularity and even today after 25 years it is just as popular. George's name became so popular that I believe there isn't one musical fan who does not recognise his unique style of music.

George was a truly gifted artist and his Lyrics were that of a genius. he mixed emotions of joy love and tragedy which are truly part of everybody's life. His gift was that of a Unique Style of plucking a Guitar and combined with his Lyrics reached almost everybody's heart.

George Mukabi was tragically killed in 1963. Although in body he died his music shall live forever in hearts of all music lovers.

In this album the Producers AGS give just some of his masterpieces. We hope his music moves you as it has done thousands of others over the years.

TRIBUTE BY FELLOW MUSICIAN WHO KNEW GEORGE MUKABI VERY WELL, Mr. John Nzenze (Producer AGS Records)

This chap's music is a total joy. Gorgeous, playful vocals and a swinging, fingerpicked guitar make this one a real winner. And the crackles on this dirty old chunk of vinyl are a little reminiscent of a campfire if you wish hard enough.

Tracklist:

01 Kweli Ndugu
02 Sengula Nakupendu
03 Ruben Achieng
04 Asante Kwa Wazazi
05 Kusema Wongo
06 Kuowa Tuna Owa
07 Omulanga Wamuka
08 Kunya Kidogo
09 Tuli Saliwa Vijano Tano
10 Furaha Wenye Gita
11 Bibi Mama Ngani Mzuri
12 A.G.S. Recodi Africa
13 Bibi Mzuri Nyumbani
14 Sis Na Malenya (by Peter Akwabi)

Get it HERE.

Abdul Halim Hafez - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

2011-06-03T07:55:00.002+01:00

Abdel Halim Hafez was, alongside Oum Kalsoum, one of Egypt and the Arabic speaking world's most popular singers. Here's what the liner notes have to say about his 1967 performance at the Royal Albert Hall:

"For the first time in the long history of the Royal Albert Hall, this great and world famous auditorium was transformed for one evening in November 1967 into something resembling the palace of a great Caliph in the golden age of the Arab empire. It was filled to capacity with an audience of Arabs and thier friends of various nationalities, all of whom have a tremendous affection for the popular singing star of the Middle East - Abdul Halim Hafez"

The audience response on this album is rapturous, Abdel walks on the stage and the crowd go wild, it really is something special to hear. The music is often solemn and gentle in pace but its a beautiful melencholy sound which complements the singer's powerful voice perfectly.

Enjoy.

Tracklist:

Side One - Adda Al-Nahar / Ala Hisb Wihad / Al Tuba

Side Two - Sawwah / Al Masih

Get it HERE.

Qrquesta Henry Castro, Antonio Gonzalez y D'Argil - Chicharron de Chivo

2011-05-31T20:19:00.005+01:00

It's a little difficult getting back into the swing of this blog posting business after such a long, accidental break. I have managed to pick up some wonderful vinyl during that time off so I hope to be quite busy here over coming weeks.

First up we have this lovely, crackly old record from a time when rock 'n' roll landed in Colombia. This is a weird and intriguing blend of American and Colombian styles which features a number of tracks designed for dancing the Twist. But with Cumbia and Porros stuff going on too. If that sounds like your bag then come grab a copy before they make it illegal.

Tracklist:

01 Munequita de Cristal
02 La Estraordinaria
03 Chicharron de Chivo
04 Gusano Peludo
05 Don Ramiro
06 San Andres
07 Carmen Cecilia
08 Las Palmitas
09 Luna de Miel
10 Rosa
11 Margarita
12 Que Linda

Get it HERE.

While we're all here and paying attention, I'd just like to draw your attention to a new blog which has been started by Tim Abdellah, who has regularly provided translations for some of the Moroccan and Arabic music I've posted here. Tim has decided to start to share some of the music he has collected whilst visiting Morocco, along with some of his knowledge about this music. Tim seems pretty versed in the Gnawa tradition0 (whilst I'm just a happy amateur), and his comments here have been consistently interesting and enlightening, so I for one am looking forward to more Moroccan music coming our way soon. The blog is called Moroccan Tape Stash and you can find it here:

http://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/

Nights on the Place of Dead Roads

2011-05-23T21:29:00.004+01:00

"The most important single element of Morocco's folk culture is its music...the entire history and mythology of the people is clothed in song"
Paul Bowles Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands are Blue

In March this year I spent five perfect days in Marrakech. I had flown into the city full of grand plans - I was to go record hunting in Casablanca, I would catch a bus up the Ourika Valley and spend two days walking in the mountains. Of course I did neither of these things - the chaos and excitement of life in the medina sucked me in and wouldn't let go. I spent my days wandering the narrow streets making a mental map of the labyrinth at the heart of the ancient city. Each night as darkness fell I would wander from my hotel to the Djemaa El Fna - the Assembly of the Dead - to lose myself in the crowds at this unique, permanent festival.

Over the four nights I spent wandering from halqah to halqah I was treated to some incredible music and performances, and what really struck me on this visit was how communal and participatory the performances are. The crowds which gather around the musicians show their appreciation for a good rendition by singing along. The resulting sounds can be electrifying.

Follow the link below and you'll find 50 something minutes of recordings from the square made between March 3rd and March 7th this year. In posting these recordings, my thoughts go out to all those affected by the bomb that went off in the Cafe Argana on Aprl 28th, and to the thousands of Moroccans who attended the pro peace and pro democracy marches over the following weekends.

Nights on the Place of Dead Roads

Sulamiyya: Mohammed Chaabane - Ya Qasid al Hajj/Ana Qalbi Mushtaq (Sufi Music from Tunisia)

2011-04-25T08:20:00.004+01:00

I'm afraid I can't tell you much about this cd which was picked up a couple of months ago in a local charity shop. I think the music is from Tunisia - I think it may be songs from a Sufi sect's Hadra cermony, but I could be wildly wrong.
The music is extremely unsettling to me, disconcerting and alien sounding. The call and response singing and insistent rhythm of the bendir and the weird, out of tune bass all conspire to remove solid ground from under the feet.

Any help with translations would be much appreciated.

Mr Abdellah has very kindly translated the tracklist:

1 Ya Qasid al Hajj
2 Ana Qalbi Mushtaq
3 Ana Mani fi Ash
4 Ya Ahl Ishmail Shiluni
5 Ya Ghawth il Mukhtar
6 Ya Rabb Ghairek La Yurtajashi
7 Labbaika Allahuma Labbaik
8 Tala'a al-Badru 'Alayna
9 Sala Allahu 'ala Muhammad
10 Ya 'Adim aj-Jud
11 As-Salat wa s-Salaam...

Get it HERE.

Homzy Trio Group - Green Eagles Special (1981)

2011-04-22T21:28:00.003+01:00

Picked this oddity up in a flea market a couple of weeks ago, and it suits the incredibly good weather we're having here at the minute. This is some wonky highlife and native blues that was made in support of the Green Eagles, Nigeria's national football team who in 1981 were playing matches to qualify for the 1982 World Cup.

This is Rossanah Nwhere Obi Nwayo:

Tracklist:

01 Green Eagles Special
02 Jelly Leave Me
03 Onye Dara Ada
04 Rossanah Nwhere Obi Nwayo

Get it HERE.

Haj Omar Wahrouche (REPOST)

2011-04-21T19:48:00.004+01:00

Apologies to anyone who downloaded this from the earlier post, I had forgotten to boost the volume on the files and so the whole thing sounded very quiet. This should be a massive improvement.

Haj Omar Wahrouche was one of a wave of more traditional Berber songwriters popular before the likes of Nass El Ghiwane and Izenzaren started to blend the music with western instruments and more politicised lyrics. The chap I bought this tape from told me his father was a fan of this man and his music. This is some beautiful stuff I'm sure you'll agree.
Here is some footage of the rabab playing man in shades:

Raiss Omar wahrouch ahrouch by ouchrif

Tracklist:

Side One
Side Two

Get it HERE.

Tony Tuff (1980)

2011-04-19T20:31:00.005+01:00

I picked up this lovely slab of roots reggae a few days ago in a local charity shop and thought that this warm April evening would be as good a time as any to share it with you. The Gladiators back Tony Tuff on all these supertight tunes, and production is shared by Yabby You, King Sounds, Mafiatone and Tony Tuff.
Come hear the monolithic, dubby whump of Sweet Maureen, you might like it:

Tracklist:

01 Don't Follow Bad Company
02 Jah Almighty
03 Rumors Of War
04 Lovers Rocking & Skanking
05 We Want No War
06 I'm So Glad
07 Gimme Wha' Me Want
08 Sweet Maureen
09 Now I Know

Get it HERE.

Nicu Pourvu & his Roumanian Orchestra (1971)

2011-04-18T10:28:00.005+01:00

"FROM PAN PIPES TO THE NAI:
Legend has it that the God Pan made the first Pan Pipes from reeds, to play to his loved one, the nymph Syrinx.
The instrument originally had 5 to 7 reeds but many variations were made in stone, porcelain, bronze, etc. It was a folk instrument played mostly by farmers, shepherds and gypsies, and has remained an instrument of the country people, especially in Roumania.
In the 18th Century, the Roumanians developed it with the introduction of bamboo pipes, and extended it to as many as 23 pipes. At this time, with the increase in size, its form changed from flat to curved for ease of playing and to extend the playing technique, and it became known as Nai..."

This album came from a boot sale a few months ago. Now, please forgive my ignorance, but I had always associated the pan pipe with the music of the Andes, so this came as a bit of a revalation. I thought the record might provide some momentary amusement, but actually it is a highly energetic gypsy romp - the music is spectacularly good. There are some beautiful moments in which Nicu plays his pipes to emulate bird calls, and his playing is brilliant throughout, however the real star of this album is, for me, the fantastic Cimbaal player - Ion Miu, who's playing on the zither like Cimbalom is just gorgeous.

Tracklist:

01 Ciocirlia (The Lark)
02 Coboara Neica Calare
03 Doina De La Titu
04 Sirba de Concert
05 Busoic de la Plenita
06 Ca Pe Giu
07 Sirba Din Muntenia
08 Hora Staccato
09 Munte, Munte, Brad Frumos
10 Hora Lunga
11 Jocul Oilor Din Maramures
12 Miorita
13 Coragheasca

Get it HERE.

Trouble Funk - Drop the Bomb (1982)

2011-04-14T20:08:00.002+01:00

Last weekend the sun was blazing here on the south coast, temperatures crept up above 20C and I got a bit of a tan. This fantastic album got some play in my house and a great time was had by all.

When I was in my teens in the North-East of England (a small town called Bishop Auckland to be precise), Trouble Funk were big with the local B-Boys (there were maybe 5 or 6 of them in the mid-'80s) along with Schooly D, Kraftwerk and Run DMC. Trouble Funk make an almighty noise, theirs is a weird brand of disco-funk - heavy on the polyrhythmic percussion, fat bass and simple call and response vocal lines.
If the sun is out where you are, then you might want to give this a go.

'Pump Me Up' is my favourite track, so her it is:

Tracklist:

01 Hey Fellas
02 Get On Up
03 Let's Get Hot
04 Drop The Bomb
05 Pump Me Up
06 Don't Try To Use Me

Get it HERE.

Maalem Ali el-Mansoum - Derdeba 1

2011-04-08T21:39:00.002+01:00

Wednesday 25th June 2008
I get off the airport bus at the Place de Foucauld close to the infamous, and endlessly fascinating Djemaa El Fna. The temperature is hovering somewhere close to 50 C as I weave a path through the petrol fumes, crowd and mopeds of the square. I'm on my hastily arranged and ill prepared way to Essaouira for the 11th Festival de Gnaoua. It's my third visit to Morocco and in my naivety I imagine myself as an old hand, nothing here can surprise me.

I stay the night in the Hotel Scherazade, my one night of relative luxury in moderately priced accommodation, but this is good because the rest of the trip is a complete mystery - no idea where I'll stay, nowhere booked and no contingency plan. To consolidate the slight sense of unease, I'm travelling on a very limited budget. I have only £200 to last the week, and have no access to any other funds as I await the final installment of a grant which its not due to be paid until the week after I return to the UK. This is something of a worry, but I try hard not to think about it.

I find the hotel, deposit my bag in the room before making my way to the roof terrace for my first mint tea of the trip. I sit and smoke on the terrace with my tea and a book I hope will make me appear intellectual, before getting into a conversation with a friendly Marrakshi who eventually offers to help me locate some quality essentials that might help ease my troubled mind. And by a stroke of luck, he's good to his word.

Later in the afternoon a group of wealthy young English chaps check in and join me on the terrace. We get to talking and it soon becomes clear that they too are heading to Essaouira. They couldn't get tickets to Glastonbury and so here they are. They ask how I'm getting there. Well, my trip's quite impromptu and I just figured I'd catch a bus. However, it's already clear that Essaouira is going to be a popular destination and the buses may well be rather busy. Luckily, these fresh faced young men are one step ahead. They've hired a driver and an air conditioned people carrier and offer me the spare seat if I chip in for the fare, it's an offer I'm happy to accept. We chat some more, drink some tea, then they head off to the new town to sample the bars and clubs while I head into the square for food and entertainment.
I sleep well that night.

Thursday 26th June 2008
I'm up nice and early for breakfast on the roof terrace. My bag is packed and I'm ready to go. The sun is out and things heat up quickly. No sign of my new friends. I smoke on the terrace and drink coffee with my book trying hard to look enigmatic. Not at all bothered by the fact that its soon time for the car to arrive. Eventually I give up the ghost and head down to the rooms to see what's happening.

The Englishmen are all nursing hangovers and trying to pack bags. They've missed breakfast and everything's running slowly recovering from a night in one of the Gueliz casinos drunk and enjoying life on another continent. All the boys are rounded up complete with luggage and we pay our bills and head down to the square where the car awaits. Of course it's older and had more use than they expected and its smaller than they'd imagined. I offer to take the bus as the car isn't as big as advertised, but of course its fine (we are English after all), we can all squeeze in. Its now the middle of the day and the heat is creeping towards its peak in the red city.

By the time we're out of Marrakech and on the straight road to Essaouira, its become apparent that the air conditioning in the car also doesn't work. However, the radio does work and I have no hangover. I'm also close to the air streaming in through the open window. The sky is a deep, clear blue and there are no clouds as we cruise through the moon-like landscape towards the walled town on the edge of the Atlantic.

The driver speaks no English and my French is only slightly better than my Arabic, but time speeds and we are soon stopping close to the large Sofitel hotel on the Boulevard Mohammed V overlooking the sea. This is where the journey ends as the English boys have arranged to pick up the keys for the apartment they've hired. I help unpack the bags from the car then we say our goodbyes.

I head on towards the Medina where I hope to be able to find a place to stay, though its already obvious that the population of the town has swelled considerably. On the beach there's a ramshackle encampment of tents and shelters and I panic slightly wondering whether I'll be able to find a bed. Walking through the medina, I try not to get drawn into the festivities - I want to find a room, settle in and freshen up before joining the crowds of relaxed faces.

Of course, wandering around the packed medina on the first day of the festival, I soon get the impression that many of the hotels and hostels are full. Enquiries in a few randomly selected hotels confirm my fears. I make my way back through the narrow maze of streets towards the light and space of the Moulay Hassan square, where I check my guidebook before deciding to make a way up the narrow Rue de Scala which hugs the wall of the medina and runs North from the square. I'm hoping there may be a bed left at the Hotel Smara, which is in my price range...however, being the most popular budget place in town I'm out of luck. Despondent, I head back towards the square to drink a coffe, smoke a cigarette and gather myself.

Walking down the Rue de Scala, a street which is permenantly in the shadow of the wall of the city, I get talking to a gentleman who wants me to look at the jewellry and leather in his shop. I'm really not in the mood for the hard sell and try to brush him off, when he suddenly announces that he knows where I can get a room. We start chatting and he tells me he can take me to a place, very nearby, where a Mr Haj is letting out rooms in his house, only for the duration of the festival. He's eager that I understand that this is not a hotel but a private house with spare rooms and that Mr Haj appreciates the extra income they generate during festival time. What have I got to lose?

We walk a few metres down the street and come to a large blue door. There is a hole in the door where you would normally expect a keyhole, a piece of string dangles from the hole. The man pulls the string and the door unlatches. We step into the cool darkness of a beautifully tiled stairway. Up we go to the first floor where Mr Haj, an older Arabic gentleman in a white djelaba and skullcap, is washing his hands with a lemon in his comfortable looking salon. We are introduced and the man from the shop explains that I'm looking for a room. I'm taken up a couple more flights of stairs to the floor with the rooms all the time amazed that the modest blue door is the entrance to such a large home.

I'm shown to a small room containing a lumpy bed. The walls are painted bright yellow and there is plaster and paint, which has fallen from the ceiling, on the bedcover. There is a shower and toilet in an adjoining room. Being so close to the sea, the room feels slightly damp and musty. I tell Mr Haj I need a room for three nights, he quotes an extortionate price and I roll my eyes in mock exasperation and we enter into the ancient game. After some time we have finalised the deal, I am not happy however, its still more than I wanted to pay for a bed, but I'm conscious that I need a place to sleep and the town is packed with tourists. Mr Haj gives me the key to the room.

I dump my bag and wander up to the roof terrace. There are a number of other guests sitting up on the terrace, including two Belgian's and an American. We all sit in the afternoon sun and swap stories about journeys and such like. The Belgian's are here for the festival, for the music, and are excited to see this act and that. They have an itinery planned and have a copy of the festival programme close at hand. I have a look through the programme, and note with some excitement that Mahmoud Guenya is playing at the Moulay Hassan on Saturday night. There are some incredible musicians playing, but I find it hard to stick to programmes and prefer to be able to wander at festivals. You never know what might happen, who you may meet or what you may see if you just allow yourself to drift a little.

By contrast, the American seems surprised that the town is so busy, almost as if he didn't know about the festival. He doesn't appear to be particularly interested in the music and seems to have landed here by accident. We get talking, he's from Atlanta and is called Otambe. He's been travelling the coast of West Africa for nearly 6 months. He's a quiet and reserved African-American, in his late twenties or early thirties he is well dressed with close cropped hair. I press him about his travels, eager to hear stories, but he's fairly cagey, though not unfriendly. He talks fondly about river fishing in Nigeria - and about the bars of West Africa.

Later, I head out onto the streets. I eat a sandwich and drink a coffee and wander the busy streets soaking up the music, which seems to emanate up out of the ground. The noise in the streets is incredible, the low, endless murmer of the crowded streets, a cacophonous and heady mix of music coming from all different directions, from cd stalls, from shops and cafes, from the musicians who are hanging out on every corner, distant drums drifting from who knows where. The hypnotic rhythm of the qraqab underpins everything. It is dizzying, disorientating and electrifying to wander with the crowds.

When the sun starts to go down I walk back to my room to gather some things. Otambe is up on the roof terrace savouring the last of the day's heat. We chat some more and I ask if he'd like to come and check out some of the performances - I'm heading for the smaller stages in the heart of the medina where I hope to hear a rawer and more hypnotic brand of Gnawa music than the Gnawa-jazz-world fusion that's playing on the larger stages. He tells me he'll come out for a while and so off we go out into the crowds. We walk around for a long while, chatting and catching the sights, sounds and smells. Otambe is strange company - he's very quiet, reluctant to talk about much apart from his immediate surroundings, but he doesn't seem to lack confidence. By the time darkness has fallen, we are in the grain market where Allal Soudani and Najib Gbani and a small chorus of singers and qraqab players are performing. The small square is packed with a very diverse crowd of people, all ages and nationalities. The atmosphere is fantastic and the crowd become very excitable when the music shifts pace and the qraqab players start to perform acrobatic feats in time with the music. The rhythms are irresistable and I dance for a while.

Later I notice Otambe is becoming restless. He tells me the music isn't for him and asks if I want to go to a bar. As I said, Otambe is strange company, and something about the situation makes me feel obliged to agree, like I'm worried that he'll be alone if I don't, that I'll be letting him down. I tell him that my money is tight and that I can come for a drink but can't afford much more than that. He says he knows somewhere near the city wall, so off we go. We're soon sitting in leather chairs in quite plush surroundings away from the noise and crowds. The bar is very civilised and we drink a beer each and smoke cigarettes. Otambe is from Atlanta and he's been travelling. He likes to drink and has a few stories about people he met in Camaroon and Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, stories about being drunk on another continent. He doesn't like the fact that its difficult to get alcohol in this Muslim country. Other than this he doesn't talk much about himself or his own life. When we finish the drinks I tell him I'm going to head out to catch more music, but Otambe says he knows another bar where there will be dj's and dancing. My arm becomes rubbery and I again tell him I have very little money and cannot stay for long.

Otambe takes me to a basement bar that is very plush with a well dressed clientelle of mostly Moroccan couples. We find a table in the cool, candlelit darkness and he orders two more beers. I dread receiving the bill, knowing the place is going to be very expensive. Otambe is still reluctant to talk about himself, swerving what seem to be fairly harmless questions like "What do you do in Atlanta?" or "Have you got kids?". After a while we are joined by two young Moroccan men. It takes me a few moments to realise that Otambe knows them both. It's at this point that he reveals that he's been in Essaouira for nearly two weeks, just relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere. He's planning on travelling up the coast of Morocco for a little while before catching a flight back to Ghana or Senegal. The two men who've joined us are Abdullah and Brikhim, they are both exceptionally friendly and well dressed in baggy jeans and baseball caps. Abdullah speaks excellent English, whilst Brikhim is younger and more eager. Brikhim can't understand why I've come to the festival, not being a fan of Gnawa music he tells me he prefers rock and rap.

We talk more, the evening is easier now that I'm not trying to drag conversation out of Otembe. There are soon more beers on the table without my even noticing. I quietly tell Otembe that I really must make this my last as my money is very tight. I tell him I will finish and settle my part of the bill, but he laughs it off and tells me not to worry. I resolve to finish and pay, but resolve has never been my strong point.

As I near the end of my beer, a bottle of red wine appears on the table along with four glasses. Brikhim has magicked together a special cigarette and is telling me that he wants to fly. I'm starting to enjoy the mixture of rai, r&b and electro-gnawa the dj is playing and venture on to the floor for a little dance. Otambe and Abdullah are deep in conversation. A little later I tell Otambe that I want to pay for the beers I've had as I'm going to head home. He says that there's another bottle of wine coming and not to worry about the money as they need help finishing the bottle.

Later I notice that there are not many people left in the bar. I'm drunk but Brikhim still wants to fly. It's nearly 5 in the morning. The waiter has brought the bill and I silently start to panic - I know that there's little chance of Abdullah and Brikhim being able to contribute, and I imagine that this accidental session will probably eat up the majority of the money that should last me a whole week and which still has to pay for five days of food, travel and accommodation. Abdullah is speaking quickly in Arabic with the waiter. They are laughing and appear to know each other well. The waiter leaves and when he has gone Abdullah leans in close to Otambe - "It's fine, we go now" he says. "You've cleared it?" asks Otembe. "Yes, we can go".

I'm unsure as to what has happened as we walk out of the empty bar, past the huge doormen in white shirts and black ties and up the steps into the morning air. No money has changed hands and I can't believe how drunk I am. We're all in high spirits as we walk into the maze of narrow streets. The town is quiet and empty, only our drunken laughter and heavy footsteps and the cry of the gulls break the morning silence. We are near the Moulay Hassan when a hand falls on my shoulder. I turn and am confronted by the two doormmen from the bar, immaculately fearsome in their pressed shirts and black ties. They talk with Abdullah but my horrified mind is lurching. I'm suddenly adrift in cold space. "They want the money man" says Abdullah. I haven't got it. Otambe is there. He takes a fat leather wallet out of his pocket and opens it asking calmly if they can take a card. The madness of this question is not entirely lost on me and if I was not so frightened I think I'd be laughing hysterically. I see Otambe flicking through an enormous collection of credit cards. "Will they take this one? Or this?"

I look around and see that Brikhim is standing away from the rest of us, I move back towards him and when I'm close he nods his head towards the square and so I turn from the doormen and Otambe and run towards the darkness of the Rue de Scala. I hear footsteps behind me and hope they belong to Otambe.

I wake up in the lumpy bed in the yellow room in Mr Haj's house. The harsh morning sunlight is streaming in through the window and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust. A trumpet is being played somewhere close by. I crawl into the shower and try to regain some sense of my humanity before going up onto the terrace. The Belgian's are there but there's no sign of Otambe. I don't see him until the Saturday evening when I bump into him on the roof terrace. We had ran home together but I have no idea what happened on that drunken night, my mind is full of questions. Otambe tells me he came back to his room, got the money to pay the bill then went back and found Abdullah and the doormen. I ask if he wants me to pay half but he tells me its fine - I'm not about to argue. That is the last I see of him.

This cassette is mysterious and beautiful, solo guimbri and singing, small choir call and response. The earth moves slightly when the qraqabs come in half way through side one. The songs are timeless.

Tracklist:

Side 1
-Uled Bambara (incl. Allah ya Nabina, Woye ya Waye, Lalla Imma; Bangara Bangara; Berrma Sosangdi)
-Negsha (incl. Negsha; Lalla Fatima)

Side 2
-Khali Mbara
-Rebbi L'Aafu (= Ftih ar-Rahba)
-Marhaba
-Assalaamu Alaykum (Musawi)

Many thanks to Tim Abdellah for all his fantastic translations.

Get it HERE.

Lemchaheb

2011-03-25T12:00:00.001Z

Lemchaheb, or The Torches, were along with Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala, one of the founding groups of Moroccan Chaabi, a popular musical form that sought to blend traditional Moroccan folk music styles with Western pop styles to create an idiosyncratic sound. By the late seventies, Lemchaheb's music was charecterised by their use of the electric guitar, but that's nowhere to be heard on this beautiful early recording which instead features the gorgeous vocals of Saida Birouk, the female band member who was part of the group until 1978.

Lemchaheb's sound on these recordings is very melodic and quite gentle, in contrast to some of the other Moroccan music I've posted in the past, which might make it a good point of entry for the wary. The group are still well loved in Morocco and you may hear some of their songs being played by the groups of musicians that congregate in the Djemaa el Fna.

Here's a track from their 1978 album:

Tracklist:

Side 1:
Lkhyala
Amana
Alwad
Attalab

Side 2:
Wana A Ommi
Lalla Lakbira
Kif Nghanni Ya Sah

Get it HERE.

Izanzaren! Izenzaren!! Izenzarn!!!

2011-03-21T21:59:00.007Z

Ok, I'm back from a quick trip to Marrakech and I come back bearing some musical goodies. I thought we could begin with some more beguiling music from Snap, Crackle and Pop favourites, Izanzaren. Anyone who visits regularly may have heard some of the music posted back in 2009 by this important group, if you haven't then there's about 3 hours of songs to be found here, here and here.

I was further impressed when I discovered that Izanzaren (or Izenzaren, Izenzarn) translates as Sunbeams, which strikes me as a particularly sublime moniker for a musical combo.

Tracklist:

1a)Ddunit tga Izmaz
1b)Imhdan
2a)Imrjan n Rbbi
2b)Tassutad

Thanks to Tim for translating the songtitles. You're work is much appreciated.

Get it HERE.

Los Corraleros de Majagual - !Grito Parrandero! (1966)

2011-03-12T08:50:00.003Z

This is some glorious, itchy Colombian dance music from way back in 1966 that I picked up at a boot sale a couple of weeks back. I'm just back from a few days in Marrakech and I thought I'd post this in the name of variety before the deluge of Morrocan music begins.

The album contains a song called 'My Burrito' - Ween have nurtured in me a love of songs about food, and this one is great.

Hope you enjoy!

Tracklist:

01 La Gustadera
02 Mi Sombrero Viejo
03 Grito Parrandero
04 La Vieja Pancha
05 No Como Eso
06 Al Ritmo Corralero
07 Rrrriapatopo
08 Swing Bailable
09 Mi Burrito
10 Merengue Bonito
11 El Carrito Viejo
12 La Gaviota

Get it HERE.

Guy Beart - FuturFictionFantastique (1977)

2011-02-23T08:42:00.003Z

This is a strange recent boot sale discovery - I was instantly attracted by the beautiful Moebius imagery adorning the gatefold sleeve. I had no clue as to what the music might sound like, but thought I'd give it a try for a pound. French chanson wouldn't normally be my cup of tea, but with its wibbly synth soundscapes and songs all about outer space, this one's a real curio.

I'd never heard of Guy Beart previously, but it turns out he was one France's most popular chanteur's for a number of years, so he's probably well known to some of the French speakers out there. Like many ignorant and poorly educated English folk, I do not speak any French and so am unable to understand anything that Guy is singing about, but it all sounds very interesting.

Tracklist:

01 Etoiles, Garde-A-Vous
02 Les Temps Etrangers
03 Les Enfants Sur La Lune
04 Alphabet
05 De La Lune, Qui Se Souvient
06 L'Avenir C'Etait Plus Beau Hier
07 Annees Lumiere
08 Les Collines D'Acier
09 Voyageur De Rayons
10 La Terrien
11 La Lune Est Verte

Get it HERE.

REPOST: L'Afrique Danse Presents Orchestre Stukas (1976)

2011-02-13T10:13:00.002Z

I originally posted this lost classic back in 2009, but I'm posting an entirely re-recorded 320k version as someone recently pointed out that the old zip file was no longer available for download. All you folks who downloaded the old version might want to check this one out as I think its a much better recording, and all those who never heard it before will definately want to check it out now because it's completely wonderful!

Glorious Rumba/Soukous from the mid-'70s. This is frantic, psyched-out stuff, twitchy drums and madly phased, wah-wah guitars. Here's what Gary Stewart had to say about the band in his great book Rumba on the River:

"The Stukas Boys had gotten their start as a neighbourhood band doing James Brown covers in 1968, nearly two years before their more successful competitors Bella Bella and Zaiko came along. In 1970 the group had improved to the point that it was able to secure a booking at the prestigious Para Fifi night club...and the next year it cut some records. By than a fairly stable core had evolved that included singers Lita Bembo, Lomingo Alida, Kisola Nzita, and Suka Bola, guitarists Samunga Tediangaye and Bongo Wende, and drummer Bakunde Ilondjoko

Like the Trio Madjesi, The Stukas Boys were known less for their music than for theirgreat live performances. And Zaire's developing show system was made to order for their front man, the incredible Lita Bembo. Young and athletic, Lita...had a workmanlike voice but the instinctive moves of a premier dancer. Once on stage, he alone commanded the audience.

Samunga, barely into his twenties, anchored the band with a flashy lead guitar which he sometimes plucked with his teeth a la Jimi Hendrix. But when the 'showman' Lita Bembo appeared, no one else had a chance. 'The young man will literally dominate the scene,' reported. 'He will make the mike "suffer." Dropping to his knees like a voodoo man in a trance, exhibiting his sacred dance...Lita Bembo proves his skill by showing off his impossible postures.' After his stellar performance at Zaire 74, Salongo declared 'he set the tone for the evening. And the concert he presented to the public brilliantly confirmed his rank as a great star of Zairean music'"

Here's a clip of this great band in action on a Saturday night variety show:

Tracklist:

01 C'est La Vie
02 Esta Bibisha
03 Colombo
04 Awuti Poto

Get it HERE.

Lata Mangeshkar - Sings Meera Bhajans (1968)

2011-02-05T10:12:00.004Z

Musical Direction: Hridnayath Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar should need no introduction - she is one of the Indian sub-continent's most famous voices, the vocal star of a thousand Bollywood movies over the years. On this beautiful album, the music is divorced from the movie industry, these are not songs for gaudy technicolour dance routine's, they are songs of devotion - music as a form of meditation - a way to become closer to the gods - a pathway to a deeper understanding, all written by Meera, a 16th Century Rajput mystic singer and poet.

The sleevenotes state:

"Meera rightly belongs to the world tradition of women mystics, and a variety of legends have grown around her life. Meera was, by all accounts, a Rajput princess who flourished in the 16th Century. Widowed while still in her teens and with nothing to look forward to in the world, she consecrated herself wholly to religion. Immersed in her holy love of Lord Krishna, she soon forsook the splendour of palace life in quest of a personal God. Her restless, unyielding spirit led her to far-flung places. Bare-footed, the erstwhile princess spanned the vast expanse of North India, singing lyrical songs that were full of devotion, surrender and abandonment to Lord Krishna, and she attracted a vast following wherever she went. Legend has it that Meera sang her way to union with the flute-playing cowherd God at Dwarka, the earthly abode of Lord Krishna, in Gujarat State."

The music here is beautifully tranquil and Lata's voice is flawless. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

01 Sanvaro Nanknandan
02 Kinun Sang Khelun Holi
03 Mhara Re Girdhar Gopal
04 thane Kanee Kanee Sunava
05 Maee Mhano Supnama Parnare Dinanath
06 Oji Hari Kit Gaye
07 Ramaiya Bin Nind Na Aave
08 Sanvara Mari Preet Nibhajonji

Get it HERE.

Congo Sevens Number 1 - Various Artists

2011-01-28T21:35:00.005Z

A joyful noise from '70s Zaire!
If you've never heard the lightning guitars and heavenly harmonies of Congolese rumba and soukous, then this compilation of fuzzy sounds from old singles might open your ears to some of the most exhilirating sounds ever produced by humans; if you're already a fan of the music, then you're going to want to hear these rare tracks.

Tracklist:

01 Alimatou - Franco & L'Orchestre TPOK Jazz
02 Made - Orchestre Bella Bella
03 Houleux - Houleux - Orchestre Bella Bella
04 Dialogue - Tabu Ley & Orchestre Afrisa L'International
05 Mafuku Na Libenga - Tabu Ley & Orchestre Afrisa L'International
06 Biby Ya Shaba - Orchestre Lengo Lengo Topoke
07 Bana Baya Ya Bakwanea - Orchestre Tino Mambo
08 Badyano - Orchestre Tino Mambo

Get it HERE.

I had a number of requests for scans of the covers and labels of these records, so anyone who's interested in such things can find a zip file full of pictures over HERE.

Robbie Basho - The Falconer's Arm Vol. 1 (1967)

2011-01-24T21:37:00.007Z

Robbie Basho's album of heavy, exploratory guitar jams is probably available elsewhere on the internet, but I know you just love that ol' snap, crackle and pop!

Tracklist:

01 The Falconer's Arm
02 Tassajara - Zen Shinji

Lost Lagoon Suite
03.1 Walking Into The Forest
03.2 Prelude
03.3 Blue Wolf
03.4 Sky Medicine
03.5 Finale
03.6 Walking Out The Forest
-
04 Pavan Hindustan
05 Babs

Get it HERE.

Tiger - Mi Name Tiger (1986)

2011-01-17T20:56:00.005Z

Lovely bit of ragga and dancehall from 1986. You know you want it. Pom Pom!
(insert sound of airhorn here).

The man got style, and here he is tearing up the Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1987:

Tracklist:

01 No Wanga Gut
02 Mi Lover Mi Lover
03 Puppy Love
04 Na Lef Ya So
05 Don't Be Greedy
06 Tiger Talking
07 The Works
08 Follow Mi Model
09 Move Up
10 Me Name Tiger

Get it HERE.

Adventures in Capitalism #1 (Nkengas, Ebeneezer Obey, Ernesto Dje Dje)

2011-01-16T22:55:00.003Z

Hello people.
I hate to use the blog in this way, but needs must and all that. I am clearing out some records (out with the old -in with the new) in an attempt to free up some space, and some money for a trip to Morocco in March, so there are some items of interest available on Ebay. I haven't put much up there yet, but am hoping to sell more over the coming weeks and months. Currently I have up for sale a copy of the Nkengas in London, the Ernesto Dje Dje lp and a Chief Commander Ebeneezer Obey album.
There'll be more African stuff up there within the week.
Anybody care to make me some offers I can't refuse?

You can see the items I have for sale HERE.

King Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band - Sunny Ade: Master Guitarist Volume 4 (1971)

2011-01-11T21:18:00.003Z

It's been a long time since I posted any Sunny Ade, so here's a treat for all you Juju hounds. These recordings date back to the late sixties and early seventies and they have a rougher edge than much of his later music however, the supple rhythms of the talking drums and the intricate, intertwining guitar lines are all present and correct, as are the gorgeous vocal harmonies which make me feel like I'm floating on golden clouds of angel hair. The songs are shorter too so that's a bonus for all those with attention deficits.

Tracklist:

01 Mr. Adenaike (Olulu)
02 John Ali
03 Egbe Board
04 Chief Lekan Salami
05 Prince Adesanya
06 A Ye Wa
07 Akure Nile
08 Major General Adebaye
09 Akanbi Ogun
10 Constant Star

Get it HERE.

Bongwater - Too Much Sleep (1989)

2011-01-06T21:06:00.004Z

Deeply surreal, in the truest sense of the word, intensely psychedelic, in a way that avoids all the possible cliches, hugely entertaining from start to finish, and totally essential.

Enjoy:

Tracklist:

01 The Living End
02 The Drum
03 Mr. & Mrs. Hell
04 Too Much Sleep
05 Talent Is A Vampire
06 Psychedelic Sewing Room
07 Splash 1
08 He Loved The Weather
09 Teena Stays The Same
10 One Hand On The Road
11 Khomeini Died Tonight
12 One So Black
13 No Trespassing

Get it HERE.

The Chills - Brave Words (1987)

2011-01-01T19:58:00.003Z

I thought I would try to do my bit to spread the love on the first day of 2011 by sharing this beautiful album with the world. Brave Words has grown with me over the past twenty three years and has gradually become one of my favourite ever records. My vinyl copy went missing years ago but the songs stayed with me, and I was ecstatic when I found this scratchy old copy in a charity shop a few weeks ago.

The Chills came from Dunedin in New Zealand and were active throughout the 1980s and into '90s. This was the group's first proper album and, for me it contains some of the finest pop songs of that, or any other, period. I hope that these songs will give you as much pleasure as they have given me over the years.

The House with A Hundred Rooms was a secret bonus track on some pressings (and the cd) of this album, unfortunately not the one here, however it serves a fantastic taster for a real aural treat:

Tracklist:

01 Push
02 Rain
03 Speak For Yourself
04 Look For The Good In Others And They'll See The Good In You
05 Wet Blanket
06 Ghosts
07 Dan Destiny And The Silver Dawn
08 Night Of Chill Blue
09 16 Heart-throbs
10 Brave Words
11 Dark Carnival
12 Creep

Get it HERE.

Maimoona: Music of the Rif Mountains

2010-12-28T21:53:00.004Z

As a special festive treat, here is the last of Uncle David's Moroccan cassettes, and this one's a complete mystery. The words 'Maimoona: Music of Rif' are handwritten on the label and this is the only clue we have to go on. The music is completely timeless, and this cassette could possibly be a complilation of songs recorded from other cassettes, but in the end, I'm as clueless as everyone else.

Tracklist:

Side One
Side Two

Get it HERE.

Bhai Davinder Singh Ragi & Party - Shabad Kirtan

2010-12-13T21:20:00.005Z

As I said previously, I know very little about Indian music. It would be fair to say that I know even less about the music of the Sikh religion. I picked up this album of Sikh devotional songs in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago and its very beautiful. As usual, any information about the songs or the artists would be much appreciated.

Tracklist:

01 Ek Onkar Bani Guru-Guru
02 Sun Sun Jeevan Teri Bani
03 Choji Mere Gobinda
04 Ditha Sab Sansar
05 Guru Mere Sang Sada Hai Neale
06 Kirpa Karo Deen Ke Datay
07 Abh Tabh, Jabh Kabh, Tuhi Tuhi
08 Mithay har Gunn Gao
09 Toou Mera Pita Tu Hai Mera Mata

Get it HERE.

Los Guaraguao - Es Mi Viejo (1974)

2010-12-09T20:48:00.004Z

When I was at university a couple of years ago there was a big debate between different members of the teaching staff over elements of Marxist theory. Which is the more pertinent element of the theory, exploitation or alienation? Some liked the work of Guy Debord and Walter Benjamin and the idea that capitalism creates a world of illusion, an enchanting wonderland of fashions and glittering trinkets which help separate us from our fellow human, whilst others thought this irrelevant in the face of the real exploitation of the world's poor for the benefit of the world's rich.

Of course the world is never so simple as such false dichotomies would suggest. The spectacle is necessary so that the exploitation can be perpetuated, and the spectacle must be brighter and more encompassing as the exploitation intensifies.

What does all this have to do with this week's charity shop musical 'bargain' you may ask. Well not much would be my answer, other than that this group of Venezualan musicians were part of the Nueva Cancion (new song) movement that swept Central and South America in the 1970s and '80s. Music was used as a form of immediate mass communication to express ideas that were in opposition to the views of the repressive, right wing regimes that were being installed and supported by the US government across the continent. This music expressed the feelings of the people, of the workers, and was considered dangerous enough to warrent repression in many South American countries, and many songwriters and musicians were harrassed, beaten and forced into exile.

Check out these great recordings from the 1983 Nicaraguan peace concerts for a good overview of the Nueva Cancion movement.

Tracklist:

01 Es Mi Viejo
02 Canto a mi Pueblo
03 Mi Canto
04 Cancion Por Il Fusil Y La Flor
05 Ay Que Si, Ay Que No
06 Algo Diario
07 Cristo al Servicio de Quien
08 Juventud Adelante
09 El Campesino
10 Eres Asi

Get it HERE.

Bukka White - Mississippi Blues (Sonet 1968)

2010-12-05T21:31:00.003Z

This was a fantastic recent charity shop find. Bukka White was born in 1906 and recorded some 78s in the 1930s before spending a number of years in prison, apparently for shooting a man. This classic album of delta blues was recorded by the guitarist John Fahey in 1963 and if you haven't already, then you need to hear this. Great voice, great slide guitar as you can see:

Tracklist:

01		Aberdeen Mississippi Blues
02		Baby Please Don't Go
03		New Orleans Streamline
04		Parchman Farm Blues
05		Poor Boy Long Way From Home
06		Remembrance Of Charley Patton
07		Shake 'Em On Down
08		I Am In The Heavenly Way
09		The Atlanta Special
10		Drunk Man Blues (Piano)
11		Army Blues

Get it HERE.

La Sensation - Co. (1976)

2010-11-30T20:40:00.006Z

Its been quite a while since we heard any of the cadence sounds of the Caribbean around these parts, so I was excited when I found this in a local fleamarket. Attempts to uncover any information about this group have been completely fruitless, so as usual any knowledge you could impart about La Sensation would be gratefully accepted. What I do know is that this album contains plenty of that itchy, staccatto island funk that we all love so much.

Check this one, its called 'Reverie':

Tracklist:

01 Co
02 Aras Ka Pe
03 Soleil Soleil
04 Frankeinstein
05 Pa Bombarde Nou
06 Nou Bien Vivants
07 Exile
08 Reverie
09 Cosita

Get it HERE.

The Stupids - Retard Picnic (1986)

2010-11-28T11:52:00.005Z

Classic UK hardcore-skater-thrash-punk from Ipswich. This came out in 1986 when I was 15. John Peel used to play them fairly regularly (along with other UK thrash bands of the period like the Electrohippies, Heresy or Napalm Death). In contrast to many of the other UK bands, The Stupids played more of a US influenced style of hardcore that is reminiscent at times of early Husker Du, or some of the Washington DC bands. Also in contrast to most of the UK bands, The Stupids steered well clear of politics. The subject matter for their songs was puerile and silly: horror films, skateboarding or fast food, and extremely appealing to my adolescent self. I never got to see them play, but I imagine their concerts were great fun.

Here they are playing 'Slumber Party Massacre' live in 1987:

Tracklist:

01The Memory Burns
02 Sleeping Troubles
03 Terrordome
04 Heard It Before
05 Jesus, Do What You Have To Do
06 Somethings Got To Give
07 Yah Dude!!!
08 Hawaian Vacation
09 Shades Eyes
10 Frank Furter
11 Slumber Party
12 Waltz Of The New Wavers
13 Your Little Words
14 Killed By A Cripple
15 We Suck
16 People In Your Neighbourhood

Get it HERE.

Slim Gaillard - Cement Mixer Put-ti Put-ti (Folklyric Records 1984)

2010-11-22T21:16:00.004Z

Slim Gaillard was a real oddball character from the classic age of American jazz, as anyone who ever saw the BBC's documentary, The World of Slim Gaillard can attest. This album collects some of his most popular tunes from the mid to late forties on one lovely chunk of vinyl. Here's a short biography of the oroonie man:

One of the most eccentric vocalists ever to hit the jazz scene, Slim Gaillard became a legendary cult figure thanks to his own privately invented jive dialect “vout," a variation on hipster slang composed of imaginary nonsense words (“oreenie" and “oroonie" being two other examples). Gaillard's comic performances, laid-back cool, and supremely silly songs made him a popular entertainer from the late ‘30s to the early ‘50s, especially on the West Coast, and several of his compositions became genuine hits, including "Flat Foot Floogie" and "Cement Mixer." Versatility was not Gaillard's stock in trade, but he was highly effective at what he did, and his musical ability as a singer, Charlie Christian-style guitarist, and boogie-woogie pianist was perhaps a bit overlooked in comparison to the novelty value of his music.

Slim was born Bulee Gaillard, most likely on January 4, 1916 in Detroit, MI.; some sources list his birthdate as January 1, and Gaillard sometimes claimed to have been born in Santa Clara, Cuba instead of Detroit. His father worked as a steward on a cruise liner, and sometimes brought young Slim along, once accidentally leaving him behind on the island of Crete. Gaillard was mostly raised in Detroit, though, where he tried his hand at professional boxing, worked as a mortician, and ran bootleg rum for the Purple Gang during the ‘30s. He also developed an act in which he played guitar and tap danced simultaneously, and eventually moved to New York to work the vaudeville circuit. In 1936, he teamed up with bassist Slam Stewart as Slim & Slam, and two years later they scored a substantial hit with "Flat Foot Floogie," which was quickly covered by the likes of Benny Goodman and Fats Waller in the wake of the original recording's success. Gaillard and Stewart kept cutting songs in a similar vein, including "Tutti Frutti" and "Laughin' in Rhythm," and eventually took their act to Hollywood, where they appeared in the 1941 film Hellzapoppin. Their partnership continued on through 1942, when World War II interrupted; both served in the military, Gaillard in the Air Force.

Upon exiting the service in 1944, Gaillard settled in Los Angeles and took up residency at Billy Berg's Hollywood Boulevard club, a hot spot for stars of the era. Now in tandem with bassist Bam Brown, Gaillard became a top draw and a hip name to drop; his 1945 hit "Cement Mixer" returned him to national prominence, and he recorded frequently that year, often with a quartet featuring Brown, pianist Dodo Marmarosa, and drummer Zutty Singleton. He also cut a session with bop greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in late 1945, the most notable result of which was "Slim's Jam." The latter half of the ‘40s saw Gaillard's popularity at its peak; he appeared in several films and recorded for Verve up through 1951. He had further hits with 1948's "Down by the Station," which became a popular children's nursery rhyme, and 1951's "Yep Roc Heresay," a recitation of the menu from a Middle Eastern restaurant that one radio station banned for its "suggestiveness." He performed in New York frequently from 1951-53, and also participated in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic in 1953; a few years later, he was name-checked in Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

By the mid-‘50s, Gaillard's popularity was on the wane. He spent much of the latter part of the decade on the road with Stan Kenton, and recorded for Dot in 1958. He took a hiatus from music in the ‘60s; he managed a motel in San Diego for a time, and bought an orchard near Tacoma, Washington. He also played clubs and spent time in Los Angeles, where he drifted into acting toward the end of the decade, appearing on TV shows like Marcus Welby, M.D., Charlie's Angels, Mission Impossible, Medical Center, and Along Came Bronson. He reunited with Slam Stewart at the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival, and in 1979 he appeared in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie talked Gaillard into returning to music. He traveled to the U.K. and made his first recordings since 1958 for Hep, which issued them as the album Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere; he also hit the festival circuit and toured Europe extensively, making London his new home base in 1983. He appeared in the cult film Absolute Beginners in 1986, and was the subject of a multi-part BBC special called The World of Slim Gaillard in 1989. Gaillard passed away on February 26, 1991 after a bout with cancer. — Steve Huey

Check out this piano man:

Tracklist:

01 Jam Man
02 Scotchin' With The soda
03 Cement Mixer
04 Cuban Rumbarini
05 Drei Six Cents
06 Three Handed Boogie
07 Groove Juice Jive
08 Laguna Oroonee
09 Tip Light
10 Arabian Boogie
11 The Hogan Song
12 Money Money Money
13 Organ Oreenee
14 Little Red Riding Wood
15 When Banana Skins Are Falling
16 Bongo Cito

Get it HERE.

More Amazigh Music from Fatima Tabaamrant and Rais Moulay Mohamed ben Lefqih

2010-11-20T16:14:00.005Z

Here is another of Uncle David's wonderful cassettes, and I think this one may be my favourite. I believe the lady in the picture is Fatima Tabaamrant who was featured in this previous post way back in 2009 following a trip up the Souss Valley and on into the Anti-Atlas mountains. She is not the main voice heard in these wonderful songs however, and any help identifying the male lead singer would be much appreciated.
Anyway if you're a fan of the frantic banjo and rabab music of the Moroccan Berbers then you're in for a proper treat with this one. It's great!

Tracklist:

1A) Tandamt
1B) Izda Zine
2A) Allah Inser Siydna
2B) La ilaha illa Llah

Get it HERE.

Posset - Mump Grumpy (Infinite Exchange 2009)

2010-11-11T20:14:00.005Z

Brain curdling cassette hum and buzz, this skrree takes the sounds of everyday life and turns the volume up to unbearable, in the process making everyday life into something exotic and strangely mysterious. Real freedom propaganda, this is the wobbly sound of Dali's spindly legged elephants learning to walk. It is the sound of children ransacking The City and exchanging bullion for bubblegum, the sound of spontaneous fun.

Posset is J.G. Murray, the North-East's premier purveyor of dictaphone jazz. He jams with a bank of old dictaphones and broken walkmen, ring modulators and antique effects pedals all wired together with strings of snot, scraps of sticky tape and bits of old wool. The noises he makes might not be everybody's cup of tea, but then what is?

Tracklist:

01 Children's Film Foundation
02 Coleslaw Surfeit
03 Verunk Bluaghh
04 Wooden Bells
05 The Pete Best Of Noise
06 Cafe De La Halle
07 Pekar

Get it HERE. And go leave him a message at myspace.com/iamposset

Scotty - Unbelievable Sounds (Trojan 1988)

2010-11-06T10:27:00.004Z

Sweet reggae and rocksteady sounds from the very early '70s. This'll help ease you through the winter nights.

Tracklist:

01 Draw Your Brakes
02 Children Children
03 Penny For Your Song
04 Jam Rock Style
05 I Worry
06 Musical Chariot
07 Sing Along
08 Rosemarie
09 Sesame Street
10 Lonely Man
11 Riddle I This
12 Monkey Drop
13 I Count The Skank
14 Clean Race
15 Skank In Bed
16 Unbelievable Sounds

Get it HERE.

Normal Service is Now Resumed.

2010-11-03T20:37:00.003Z

I've been having some difficulties since getting a new laptop (bloody technology - I was led to believe it was meant to make life easier!), I thought the problems would be over when I bought a cheap external soundcard from Maplins. How wrong I was, I recorded a couple of albums through said cheap soundcard, and was annoyed by a low level buzzing or humming noise that droned on in the background of the recordings (anyone who managed to unzip the A.R. Kane album may have noticed the noise). This has been preying on my fragile mind, causing sleepless nights, my place in the world feels tenuous if I can't deliver sounds to the music hungry masses - what would I do without the love I receive from my adoring public? All this is now resolved, I took the buzzing sound card back to the point of purchase and explained my problem and they very kindly replaced it with one they said should work. I have tested it out and the hum is no more. Hooray!

HERE is an entirely re-recorded copy of the aforementioned A.R. Kane l.p. for those of you who were annoyed by the buzz, and those who were unable to unzip the zip.

A.R. Kane - 69 (1988)

2010-10-29T23:06:00.004+01:00

A.R. Kane dubbed their sound dream-pop, and that's about as good a description as I can think of. This music has the strange and elusive quality of something you might hear during sleep, its a bizarre and wonderful mix of disparate sounds that create something unique and surreal. There are elements of shimmering melodic pop, fragments of reggae and funk, ghostly smears of electronic noise and washes of atonal guitar. Echoes of echoes of echoes. And like in dreams there are disembodied and seemingly random scraps of the real creeping around - the song Baby Milk Snatcher may or may not be a song about Margaret Thatcher.

Check out the gorgeous Spermwhale Trip Over:

Tracklist:

A1 Crazy Blue
A2 Suicide Kiss
A3 Baby Milk Snatcher
A4 Scab
A5 Sulliday
B1 Dizzy
B2 Spermwhale Trip Over
B3 The Sun Falls Into The Sea
B4 The Madonna Is With Child
B5 Spanish Quay (3)

Get it HERE.

An apology and an explanation.

2010-10-24T19:23:00.002+01:00

I acquired a new laptop recently (hooray!), unfortunately it has no line input to record sounds from vinyl or cassette (boo!). I certainly wasn't brought up around digital technology and I have this kind of blind faith that things should just work. As such, when I plugged my mixer into the mic input of said new laptop, I just expected that the recordings would be fine. How wrong I was, the last post sounds absolutely terrible. My apologies for that, and a rerecorded version will be posted as soon as possible as I have now found a solution to the recording conundrum.

Thanks for your patience people!

Your Favourites from Laxmikant Pyrelal (1974)

2010-10-20T22:29:00.005+01:00

Laxmikant Pyrelal were a duo who composed over 500 songs for Hindi films between the early '60s and the '90s. They worked with all the great Bollywood playback singers over the years. This compilation album that I picked up at a local boot sale features songs recorded between 1969 and 1974 and features great singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh and Mohd. Rafi, but its Asha Bhosle who takes my top prize with this inspired piece of musical mania:

Tracklist:

01 El Pyar Ka Naghma Hai
02 Sharafat Chhod Di Main Ne
03 Mere Dil Men Aaj Kya Hai
04 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa
05 Khilona Jan Khar
06 Bindiya Chamke Gi
07 Chabi Kho Jae
08 Hangama Ho Gaya
09 Yeh Jeevan Hai
10 Achha To Hum Chalte Hain
11 Jal Bin Machhli
12 Sawan Ka Mahina

Okay, the poorly recorded tracks have been replaced with nice clean recording which you can get HERE. My apologies to those of you who downloaded the first attempt.

Warped Sounds from an Old Cassette of Arabic Music

2010-10-17T21:50:00.007+01:00

I picked this up at a boot sale a couple of weeks ago and was initially disappointed that the tape doesn't play 'properly'. The sounds coming from my old walkman were twisted and warped and chunks of sound kept dropping out - suddenly all the bass is gone, or there's a weird flanging effect. It didn't take long for my disappointment to turn to delight and curiosity, I've now played this a few times and suspect that it might sound better now than it did when it was initially released. This is urgent, percussion heavy, bellydance music from somewhere in the Middle East, though I have no idea where. A period of neglect has done some strange things to the cassette, and this music now sounds like time has played at being King Tubby at the controls of some celestial mixing desk. Exciting stuff and I hope you enjoy it. As usual, any information about this music would be greatly appreciated.

Tracklist:

Side One
Side Two

Get it HERE.

Musiques De L'Asie Traditionelle Vol. 18: Inde - Musique Religieuse: Le Bhakti Yoga

2010-10-10T20:44:00.007+01:00

These beautifully evocative recordings of Bhajans were made in Rishikesh on the River Ganges. Bhakti is a Hindu practice in which the believer takes an active role in worship and expresses their love and devotion through participation in acts which will help to attain unity with the universal. Here, the music is a form of yoga, it is a vehicle to transport the performers into the arms of the gods; the songs themselves are incredibly complex and require single-minded concentration, their performance is regarded as a form of Hatha-Yoga.

These songs all ebb and flow into each other, with recurrent phrases and melodies dancing around a constant, hypnotic key note. On side two, the music slows and becomes incredibly languid. The air thickens and a crow can be heard cawing somewhere in the distance.

Tracklist:

Side One - Hare Rama, Hare Krishna / Yaya Ganesha / Bhajore Bhaiya Rama Govinda Hari / Namastestu Gange

Side Two - Manasa Sanghara re Brahmani / Mano Bhuddhyahankara-Chittani Naham / Mangalam Song / Santi Mantram /Sarvam-Brahmarparpanam

Get it HERE.

Atahualpa Yupanqui - Campesino (Le Chant du Monde 1968)

2010-10-06T21:24:00.007+01:00

I hadn't heard the of this man before I found this wonderfully packaged album in a charity shop a few weeks ago, but it turns out he is considered to be one of Argentina's most important folk musicians. He was a member of the Argentinian Communist Party and many of his songs were stories of the struggles and concerns of the country's workers and the indigenous population. You can read all about him over here.

Or you could just listen to the gentle sound of his voice and virtuoso guitar playing:

Tracklist:

01. Duerme, Negrito
02. El Arriero Va
03. El Tulumbano
04. El Arbol Que Tú Olvidaste
05. Campo Abierto
06. Punay
07. Campesino
08. La Finadita
09. Los Ejes De Mi Carreta
10. Vidala Religiosa
11. Pobrecito Soy

Get it HERE.

Mystery Cassette from Morocco

2010-09-22T20:40:00.005+01:00

Well, here are some mysterious grooves from Morocco courtesy of Uncle David. I can give you absolutely no information about this one, any info you could provide would be much appreciated. The music is hypnotic, trance inducing pipe and drum workouts. Gets pretty frenzied at times. Give it a try, you might like it.

Tracklist:

Side 1
Side 2

Get it HERE.

Fela Kuti & Egypt 80 - Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (1986)

2010-09-19T22:22:00.004+01:00

There's an awful lot that could be said about Fela Kuti, about his music, politics, his life, but its all probably been said elsewhere so I think I'll let his sublime music speak for itself. I swear there are moments on this album in which you might feel yourself levitate.

Tracklist:

01 Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (Instrumental)
02 Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (Vocal)
03 Look And Laugh (Instrumental)
04 Look And Laugh (Vocal)

Get it HERE.

Black Moon - Enta Da Stage (1993)

2010-09-14T21:18:00.006+01:00

Hard to believe that this is 17 years old. Homicidal hip hop from Brooklyn, this is so confrontational, so very anti-social, that you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Cartoon gangsta bravado flows into gritty tales of life in the projects, all underpinned by grimey beats that sound like they're bubbling up from the depths of the Black Lagoon.

Tracklist:

1. Powaful Impak!
2. Niguz Talk Shit

3. Who Got da Props ?

4. Buck Em Down

5. Black Smif-N-Wessun

6. Son Get Wrec

7. Make Munne

8. I Got Cha Opin

9. Shit Iz Real

10. Enta da Stage

11. How Many Emcees

12. U da Man

Get it HERE.

Bandolero - Bandolero (Fuzzy psych from Puerto Rico 1970)

2010-09-11T12:55:00.007+01:00

Excellent psychedelic-garage-blues jam from this Puerto Rican group. The album was released in 1970 and its full of fuzzy treats, all wailing guitar and screaming hammond...like Moby Grape with congas. I'm loving this at the moment and I hope you do to.

Tracklist:

01 I Got It
02 Ternura
03 Love Me Tonight
04 Don't Hang Me
05 I Can Always Think Of You
06 Salsa Friquea
07 Together
08 My Life Is Always Going Through Changes
09 I Want To Get There
10 Awake
11 Truth An Understanding

Get it HERE.

Raissa Rkya Damcyria - Berber Music from Morocco

2010-09-07T22:01:00.006+01:00

Last weekend my girlfriend and I went to a family party where Uncle David lent me a bunch of tapes that he got whilst travelling a few years back. So thanks to Uncle David for giving us this taste of the fabulous Raissa Rkya Damcyria (or Demssirya, Damsirya, or Talbensirt). This is beautiful, hectic music from the Souss Valley of Southern Morocco. Can't say much about this other than it features amazing rabab playing and this ringing percussion instrument that really bends the mind after a while:

RAISSA RKYA TALBENSIRT
Uploaded by imintapro. - See the latest featured music videos.

Tracklist:

Side 1
Side 2

Get it HERE.

Mystery Melodisc Afro-Cuban Collection

2010-09-04T23:56:00.004+01:00

I can't tell you much about this complilation album as I can't find anything about it anywhere on the internet. I can tell you that I was in two minds about whether or not to buy it, the lack of information anywhere on the sleeve or labels made me suspect it might be '70s easy listening faux-latin stuff, luckily that's not the case and what we seem to be treated to is a lovely collection of groovy Cuban 78s. And very good some of these songs are too. I can tell you that the version of The Peanut Vendor included here is a 1930s recording of the Havana Casino Orchestra, and Romantica Mujer is performed by Sexteto Tipico Habanera. Not that those names mean anything to me. More info would be greatly appreciated.

Tracklist:

01 Peanut Vendor
02 Babalu'
03 Chili Sauce
04 El Aguacero
05 Baionga
06 Baiao
07 India Inglesa
08 Tico Tico
09 Mi Cafetal
10 Brazil
11 Romantica Mujer
12 Maria Cristina

Get it HERE.

Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (1974)

2010-08-30T07:25:00.003+01:00

Absolutely classic deep, southern soul with that sweet Memphis sound. This album was produced by the genius R&B and soul producer Willie Mitchell, and was originally released on his Hi Records label, home also to Al Green. Ann Peebles' voice aches and swoons across these songs and the band are super tight.

Tracklist:

01 I Can't Stand The Rain
02 Do I Need You?
03 Until You Came Into My Life
04 (You Keep Me) Hangin' On
05 Run, Run, Run
06 If We Can't Trust Each Other
07 A Love Vibration
08 You Got To Feed The Fire
09 I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down
10 One Way Street

Get it HERE.

Essential Logic - Wake Up (1979)

2010-08-27T22:13:00.006+01:00

Essential Logic were an English punk band formed by Lora Logic in 1978 after the break-up of X-Ray Spex. On this short ep, the music is spikey and dissonant with a clear reggae thing going on a couple of the tracks, and you're either going to love or hate Lora's quirky vocal style. The saxophone she honks occasionally has a sound that reminds me of Henry Cow or one of them arty 70s groups.
Interestingly (or maybe not depending on your point of view), the guitarist from Essential Logic, an upstart called William Bennett, went on to become one of the most notorious and allegedly sinister figures in The History of Underground Music. Bennett founded Whitehouse in 1980 and I have difficulty thinking of a more provocative or controversial musical combo.
Not a synthesizer or reference to deviant sexual practices to be heard here though, you'll probably be relieved to hear.
Following Essential Logic's split in 1981, Lora went on to play with groovy units such as Swell Maps, The Raincoats and the Red Crayola.

Tracklist:

01 Wake Up
02 Eagle Bird
03 Quality Crayon Wax O.K.
04 Bod's Message

Get it HERE.

Cumb Assemble (Celestine Ukwu Memorial Band) - Tribute to Celestine Ukwu (RAS 1978)

2010-08-22T23:02:00.007+01:00

Gorgeous Nigerian highlife played and sung in tribute to the great Celestine Ukwu who died in 1977.

"Oh dear Celestine Ukwu / Why have you left us / Without anyone?"

"In the memory of many Igbo people of Nigeria, late Celestine Ukwu is a paragon of wisdom. He is a true philosopher who is in-depth in analyzing the social world. His musical ingenuity is a fruit of deep reflection on mankind in general. His creativity is emblematic for the entire spectrum of Igbo music industry, past present and future.
He is a musician with a profound originality. Although died and gone, his legendary works linger on in the socio-cultural life of the Igbo people.
Music no doubt has a universal language. The rhythmic poetical flow of music is enjoyed by all people irrespective of culture or language. The content or the expression anchored in a piece of music obviously tells how an individual person or a group of people perceives and interprets the world. Music therefore is a passionate expression of reality in philosophies. Musicians are also known as poets who are also known as thinkers and philosophers. In music, a subjective attempt is made to recreate the objective reality. Therefore music is all about a passionate expressions of life, birth, death, love, pain, injustice, happiness, rejection, oppression, politics, religion, ethics, fear, anxiety, sickness, poverty, richness etcetera.

The Igbo culture is among the cultures in the world that expresses its worldview in music. Sometimes, decoding the meaning of musical expression is like decoding coded lines of poetries. At other times, the meaning enshrined in a piece of music stands very intelligible. In the case of Celestine Ukwu, one sees a true born philosopher. He is a conscientious reflector on things. As a talented musician, he is a social observer."

http://www.codewit.com/featured-news/the-philosophical-mind-of-an-igbo-musician-celestine-ukwu.html

You can hear Celestine Ukwu's beautiful music here, and here, but in the meantime you'll have to make do with this.

Tracklist:

01 Tribute to Celestine Ukwu
02 Uche Chukwu
03 Chi Na Elo
04 Don't Loose Courage

Get it HERE.

The Modern Lovers - Live (1977)

2010-08-21T22:33:00.003+01:00

I picked up this classic Modern Lovers live album at a car boot sale a few weeks ago, and strangely it seems to be unavailable at the minute, so here's your chance to hear it. Anyone unfamiliar with the work of Jonathan Richman may be confused and perturbed by what might initially sound like the cracked ravings of some adenoidal man-child, however this one is worth several chances and unless you have a heart of stone, it's bound to win you over in the end. The charm, good-humour and optimism of his lyrics and performance are utterly infectious and these songs are sure to put a smile on your face if you're feeling low (which I sincerely hope you are not!).

Tracklist:

Side One: I'm A Little Airplane / Hey There Little Insect / Egyptian Reggae / Ice Cream Man

Side Two: I'm A Little Dinosaur / My Little Kookenhaken / South American Folk Song / New England / The Morning Of Our Lives

Get it HERE.

An Album Full of Soul - Various Artists ($tateside 1965)

2010-08-16T08:35:00.005+01:00

Excellent compilation of rare soul sounds from the mid '60s. I picked this one up in a flea market last week but unfortunately it came without a cover and also with a big scratch which makes Brooks O'Dell's 'You Better Make Up Your Mind' unplayable - hence it not being included in the zip. My current favourite tracks here are Little Eva's excellent cover of 'Stand By Me', which is an uptempo dancefloor stormer, and Titus Turner's 'I'm a Member of the Club'. Mostly though, this is lovely, blue, doleful, soulful stuff.

Tracklist:

01 Clyde McPhatter-Everybody's somebody's fool
02 Little Eva-Stand by me
03 Brooks O'Dell-You better make up your mind
04 Lee Dorsey-Work work work
05 Glady's Knight & The Pips-Lover's always forgive
06 Eddie Billups & The Gigs-My Faith in you
07 Pearl Woods-Something touched me
08 Titus Turner-I Am A Member of the club
09 Gladys Knight & The Pips-Stop and get a hold of my self
10 Big Dee Irwin-You satisy my needs
11 Betty Harris-What a sad feeling
12 Ed Towmnsend-I Love you
13 Earl King-You'll Remember me
14 Bobbie Smith-Wait
15 Clyde McPhatter-I Belong to you

Get it HERE.

Francisco Ulloa - Merengue! (1987)

2010-08-13T21:02:00.003+01:00

I got back from two weeks on the beautiful Spanish island of Menorca earlier this week and I found this great album of Afro-Latin sounds the day after my return. This is a heady blend of African and Hispanic rhythms and it rushes headlong at breakneck speeds from start to finish. Francisco Ulloa has flying fingers and his accordian playing is pretty breathtaking:

Tracklist:

01 La Tijera
02 Agua De Tu Fuente
03 La Situacion
04 El Beso Robao
05 Tongoneate
06 Ramonita
07 Mañana Por La Mañana
08 Los Caballos
09 Linda Mujer
10 Lucas Y Radhames
11 La Lengua
12 San Francisco
13 Homenaje A Bolo

Get it HERE.

B.A.L.L. - Hardball/Ball Four (Shimmy Disc 1990)

2010-07-24T22:04:00.006+01:00

I've been very busy with one thing and another over the past few weeks, hence the lack of recent posts, and to compound things I'm going away for a couple of weeks of heat and sun, so there'll be nothing new here until mid August. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this big, brash, howling mess of an album.

This was B.A.L.L.'s last (and best) record and you should all give it a try if you're in the mood for some dizzying, fuzzed out psychedelic freak-outs.

Tracklist:

01 Hardball
02 She's Always Driving
03 Timmy The Toad, Man
04 Mary Jane
05 The Road To Heaven
06 Ball Four Prelude
07 Ball One
08 Ball Two
09 Ball Three
10 Ball Four
11 R.I.P.

Get it HERE.

Noureddine Alane - Ya Ma (Chaâbi Music from Algeria)

2010-07-06T22:15:00.005+01:00

I picked this up at a boot sale a few of weeks ago and its taken a bit of time to sink in. Its modern Chaabi music from Algeria and it blends Arabic, Jewish and Andalusian influences in quite a beautiful way. The melodies are complex and elusive, always unravelling a little way ahead of you and leading into unexpected spaces.

Here he is performing on Algerian TV:

Tracklisting:

01 Ya Ma
02 Kif Amali
03 El Houb Kayen Menou
04 Ghir Ana Wiyak
05 Yamna
06 El Mahbouba _ Enti Ghriba
07 Enchainement

Get it HERE.

Total Recall Vol 2 - Various Artists

2010-07-04T12:44:00.004+01:00

I've been immensely enjoying the beautiful, clear blue skies and sunshine over the past couple of weeks and this here album has been a perfect accompaniment to the balmy heat. It's a very enjoyable compilation of Jamaican Dancehall hits from the late '70s up to the mid '80s, and every track's a winner. All the songs were produced by the late, great Henry 'Junjo' Lawes and if you're interested, you can find out more about him HERE.

Tracklist:

A1 Michigan & Smiley - Diseases
A2 Josey Wales - Woola Woope
A3 Sinbad - Fisherman Style
A4 Lee Van Cliff - Boom Salute
A5 Tayon - Stylee
A6 Josey Wales - Leggo Me Hand Gateman
A7 Eek-A-Mouse - Wah Do Them
B1 Michigan & Smiley - What Type Of World
B2 Nicodemus - Boneman Connection
B3 Josey Wales - Bobo Dread
B4 Charlie Chaplin - Bubbling Telephone
B5 Tayon - Barry G
B6 Michigan & Smiley - Come When Jah Call You
B7 Sister Nancy - Dance Pan The Corner

Get it HERE.

Farid el Atrache - Awal Hamsa (1972)

2010-06-20T21:00:00.004+01:00

This is an awe-inspiring live recording from 1972 of Farid el Atrache, 'the King of the Oud', which captures the fevered atmosphere of one of his concerts. Farid is considered to be one of the greatest oud players in the world and one of the most important Arabic artists. He was born in 1915 in Syria, but moved to Egypt as a child. His musical career started in the 1930s and then in the 1940s he embarked on a career in the movies, acting and composing soundtracks.

Farid was something of a playboy and refused to marry arguing that marraige kills art. There's more info to be found HERE and a bunch more mp3s over HERE.

Here's a great clip from one of his films:

The oud solos on this recording really are something special and I hope you enjoy this as much as I am.

Tracklist:

01 Awal Hamsa (Part 1)
02 Awal Hamsa (Part 2)

Get it HERE.

The Marvelettes - The Marvelettes (1967) & Motown Meltdown Volume 2

2010-06-19T12:23:00.007+01:00

A couple of weeks ago Dominic from Gigante Records posted a comment warning us that Motown Meltdown Volume 2 was about to be released as a freely downloadable album. Well, thank you Dominic for getting in touch, I've now had the chance to check out the music and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. If you're interested in hearing some seriously demented re-workings of classic old Motown tunes, then this is the album for you...and its all free and fun.
And if all that lunacy whets your appetite for a little more Motown, then you could do worse than to check this out:

In the early '60s, The Marvelettes were one of Tamla's biggest girl-groups scoring the company's first number 1 single in 1961 with 'Please Mr Postman'.
This 1967 album features killer versions of Robert Parker's 'Barefootin' and the Velvettes 'He Was Really Sayin' Something'. The real classic here though, is the gorgeous 'The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game' which has some beautiful lyrics and a really soulful feel as well as fantastic backing from the Funk Brothers:

Tracklist:

1. Barefootin'
2. Message to Michael
3. The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game
4. When You're Young and in Love
5. I Know Better
6. I Can't Turn Around
7. He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'
8. The Day You Take One (You Have to Take the Other)
9. When I Need You
10. Keep Off, No Trespassing
11. Tonight Was Made for Love
12. I Need Someone

Get it HERE.

Pandit Ram Narayan - Inde Du Nord (Ocora)

2010-06-14T21:26:00.006+01:00

I really know very, very little about Indian classical music, but there's lots of information about Pandit Ram Narayan, the master sarangi player, to be found over here. This album was recorded in 1971 and features Suresh Talwalkar on tabla and Jhorna Bose on tambura. The music is totally kaleidoscopic and sends the mind spinning off in all kinds of directions.

Here is Raga Kirvani:

The melancholic sound of the sarangi makes for some dark moments in the music and reminds me that the counterpoint to splendour of India's temples and palaces is the naked dancer in the embers of the funeral pyre, that the beauty of the Ganges is coloured by the presence of the dead who float in its waters.

Tracklist:

01 Râga Bairagi-Bhairav
02 Râga Madhuvanti
03 Râga Kirvani

Get It HERE.

Snap, Crackle & Pop

Snapper - Shotgun Blossom (1990)

C. Arjun - Jai Santoshi Maa (1975)

Patty Pravo - Per Aver Visto Un Uomo Piangere E Soffrire Dio Si Trasformò In Musica E Poesia

Maria Bethania - A Arte de Maria Bethania (1975)

United Bible Studies - The Lunar Observatory (Foxglove CDr 2004)

The Tru-Tones Combo of St. Lucia - Cream of the Crop

Ikenga Super Stars of Africa (1975)

Rais Mohamed Outhnaout

Orchestra Harlow - Electric Harlow (1971)

Congo Sevens Number 2 - Various Artists

Yard Style Christmas - Various Artists (1981)

12 of the Best - Capital Music Store, Nairobi

Black Sun Ensemble - Lambent Flame (1989)

Alain Goraguer - La Planete Sauvage

Betty Harris - In the Saddle (1980)

Street Sounds Crucial Electro - Various Artists

An Evening with Snap Crackle & Pop Volume 1

An Evening in Cairo - Various Artists (1966)

Ratsia - Ratsia (1979)

Akiko Nakamura - Hit Album (1968)

Charlemagne Palestine & Christoph Heemann - Saiten en Flammen (2009)

Chief Dr Sikiru Ayinde Barrister - Fuji New Waves (1991)

The Bauls of Bengal (1976)

Elza Soares & Miltinho - Elza, Miltinho e Samba (1967)

Los Exitos de Lucho Bermudez y su Orquesta

Dr Ilaiyaraja - Gold Hits

Swell Maps - International Rescue (1999)

Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Morogoro Jazz (1971)

Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey & His Inter-Reformers Band - Sound of the Moment (1980)

Super Jhankar - Naag Mani (1991)

Flamenco Sevens from the Franco Era - Various Artists (2011)

John Pfeiffer - Electronomusic: 9 Images (1969)

Sitara Devi with Choube Maharaj - Kathak Dance of India (1961)

Mevlana Celaledini Rumi, Ulvi Erguner – Mevlana - Acem Aşiran Mevlevi Ayini (Ersak Records)

Groupe Archach

Marehemu George Mukabi - Sengula Nakupenda

Abdul Halim Hafez - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Qrquesta Henry Castro, Antonio Gonzalez y D'Argil - Chicharron de Chivo

Nights on the Place of Dead Roads

Sulamiyya: Mohammed Chaabane - Ya Qasid al Hajj/Ana Qalbi Mushtaq (Sufi Music from Tunisia)

Homzy Trio Group - Green Eagles Special (1981)

Haj Omar Wahrouche (REPOST)

Tony Tuff (1980)

Nicu Pourvu & his Roumanian Orchestra (1971)

Trouble Funk - Drop the Bomb (1982)

Maalem Ali el-Mansoum - Derdeba 1

Lemchaheb

Izanzaren! Izenzaren!! Izenzarn!!!

Los Corraleros de Majagual - !Grito Parrandero! (1966)

Guy Beart - Futur*Fiction*Fantastique (1977)

REPOST: L'Afrique Danse Presents Orchestre Stukas (1976)

Lata Mangeshkar - Sings Meera Bhajans (1968)

Congo Sevens Number 1 - Various Artists

Robbie Basho - The Falconer's Arm Vol. 1 (1967)

Tiger - Mi Name Tiger (1986)

Adventures in Capitalism #1 (Nkengas, Ebeneezer Obey, Ernesto Dje Dje)

King Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band - Sunny Ade: Master Guitarist Volume 4 (1971)

Bongwater - Too Much Sleep (1989)

The Chills - Brave Words (1987)

Maimoona: Music of the Rif Mountains

Bhai Davinder Singh Ragi & Party - Shabad Kirtan

Los Guaraguao - Es Mi Viejo (1974)

Bukka White - Mississippi Blues (Sonet 1968)

La Sensation - Co. (1976)

The Stupids - Retard Picnic (1986)

Slim Gaillard - Cement Mixer Put-ti Put-ti (Folklyric Records 1984)

More Amazigh Music from Fatima Tabaamrant and Rais Moulay Mohamed ben Lefqih

Posset - Mump Grumpy (Infinite Exchange 2009)

Scotty - Unbelievable Sounds (Trojan 1988)

Normal Service is Now Resumed.

A.R. Kane - 69 (1988)

An apology and an explanation.

Your Favourites from Laxmikant Pyrelal (1974)

Warped Sounds from an Old Cassette of Arabic Music

Musiques De L'Asie Traditionelle Vol. 18: Inde - Musique Religieuse: Le Bhakti Yoga

Atahualpa Yupanqui - Campesino (Le Chant du Monde 1968)

Mystery Cassette from Morocco

Fela Kuti & Egypt 80 - Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (1986)

Black Moon - Enta Da Stage (1993)

Guy Beart - FuturFictionFantastique (1977)