Jo/No's Audio Delights

Mexican Screw / Exotique Morada

2011-11-05T12:49:00.000+01:00

Back from the dead! Terribly inactive autumn for this blogger. Well well, no promises made so I guess no excuses needed.

Anyway, here's a seasonal treat to my liking. In the light of today's All Saints Day (or Día de Muertos, Day of the Dead, Samhain etc. depending on your ethnicity) comes this screwed down remix of Mexican classic Perfidia, about love and betrayal as from other side of the tomb, by Stockholm based Studio Skuggan promoting a feast tonight at Kulturhuset. While I can't pinpoint the original version used (out of the many thousands) I just love it to death!

Muertos by studioskuggan

The painting above is by Paul McMillan, "Día de los Muertos" (oil on panel, 20" x 16"), apparently 52 years in the making.

UPDATE:

Call me wicked but instead of flooding the blogroll and making another post with content that I somehow feel is similar in tone, I prefer to add these to existing posts and create posts and playlists that welcome revisits.

One of my favorite audio blogger of late is Flash Strap, who frequently bless the blog-o-sphere with numerous rare rip's as well compilations and creative video transfers of obscure Eastern soundtracks. Early last year he made his own screwed Exotica experiment, Exotiste, using vintage 50's recordings which he have slowed down to enhance their inherent mysterious qualities. An effort definitely worth your attention:

Exotiste by flashstrap

Down south in Malmö another death celebratory festivity was held on the 5th of November, hosted by the colourful Prejka crew (responsible for a fellow audio blog that I've had reasons to recommend here at several occasions before). To preceed the evening they've published an eerie but pleasently mellow mix of diverse folky and psychic anomalities with a soundtrackish feel, just up my alley. Have a listen:

Prejka Dödens Mix by ambulansen

In a couple of weeks a new album from the talented Hans Appelqvist will see the light of day upon the qualitative Häpna imprint. Very much looking forward to this comeback of an unique voice and personal favourite of mine, after several silent years as far as recorded output goes. The new album release Sjunga slutet nu (Sing The End Now) shares it's title with a 30 minute film, to be released later. To wet our appetite Hans have published a teaser from the film on his website along with a few tunes from the 25 tracks strong and 71 minute long compact disc. Of these I've already found myself returning several times to the ghostly solemn concluding piece Djurens mörkermening & en människas slut.

Djurens mörkermening & en människas slut by Hans Appelqvist

Reggae Delights MIX (re-up)

2011-08-20T14:28:00.003+02:00

In the summer absence of new posts I found myself returning to this 2008 compilation of reggae oriented grooves lately and thought it deserved a second chance at the convenient Let's mix site.

Featuring vintage Jamaican tunes from the 70's along with a few 80's and late 90's dancehall numbers, as well as some crossover scorchers from yesteryears, such as DJ Rupture feat Sister Nancy, Esau Mwamwaya of The Very Best fame and Business Man a.k.a Trentemüller offering a wicked Chris Isaak drenched in dub.

This mix is packed all-time personal favourites of mine, such as Per Tjernberg's Universal Riddim, Clint Eastwood & General Saint's Talk about run and Prince Far I's Big Fight. A handful of home brewed Swedish joints are also thrown in as is high priestess of soul, Nina Simone with her beautiful ode to Baltimore.

Reggae Delights from Jo/No at Letsmix.com.

You're very welcome to leave a comment if you want me to re-upload this compilation as individual MP3's and I'll be glad to. Hope everyone had a splendid summer!

Swedish Meatball

2011-06-26T05:46:00.001+02:00

Weine Renlidens Orkester - Pop-Ivar by Lyssna!

Here is smoking Swedish trumpeter Weine Renliden, with a funky organ driven pop nugget from the 60's! Renliden played with many of the biggest jazz names in the old days, including the not so big (just noticed him credited on this hideous Hans Edler cover for instance..), and is still active in more modest fashion. This gem of his is nowadays changing hands for big bucks in the rare groove circuit (183 euro!?) and was shared last year by A Cut Supreme, a blogger with a refined taste for odd and soulful Swedish flea market finds.

Africa Brass

2011-06-23T16:51:00.010+02:00

Africa (Toto cover) by Hackney Colliery Band (WahWah45s)

This new euphoric brass take on Toto's soft rock radio hit from the 80's have been putting me in such a good mood lately, while preparing for the usual Swedish Midsummer celebrations. Hackney Colliery Band comes across like some English white dudes answer to the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, with covers of hiphop like MF Doom and what not. The nine-piece band is also influenced by the New Orleans marching bands, Balkan brass as well as Britain's own brass tradition stemming from coal miner's orchestra's.

HCB's debut album is due next week, on the 1st of July, which by chance is the same day as the real Toto is performing a gig in my hometown of Stockholm.

My premier place for all things cover related, Versions Galore, opened my ears to this track a while ago along with a couple of other takes on Toto's original, including Norwegian Rune Lindbæk's balearic disco edit of Key of Dreams version. Lately, Yum Yum's Chromeo done a slight edit of Hackney's.

Hushed rockers Low didn't make it into VG's list but deserves a listen if you ask me!

I wish all readers a delightful Midsummer eve!

Simon's Back

2011-06-17T12:25:00.009+02:00

Don't know which rock I've been hiding under but for some reason I had totally missed that old fave Paul Simon released a brand new album this spring! What a joy when it turns out it's as brilliant as one could have hoped!

Have a listen to the Kora-infused Rewrite for a welcome return of the man's sense of a peculiar and irrestible beat. For another example of this ability check out the fine albeit solemn edit that I posted last summer of his classic break up tune 50 Ways, and for more Kora sounds visit my newly updated post of the Appalachian Kora-group Toubab Krewe!

Rewrite by Paul Simon

Or why not give the entire new album, So Beautiful Or So What, a spin as it is so conveniently streamable via Soundcloud? I have hunch that this just may gonna be my feel good soundtrack of the summer.

So Beautiful Or So What by Paul Simon

Egyptian Hubbabubba

2011-06-12T08:59:00.005+02:00

Lively Swedish southerners Drop Out Orchestra has caught my ears lately with their catchy disco remixes of both old punk classics as well as modern mainstream hits. I discovered them when I was invited to DJ at a classy restaurant and felt I needed a couple of fun remixes of stuff that the crowd actually could recognize in my usual mishmash of old cumbia and random obcurities.

Drop Out's remix of Hubbabubba was one of the tunes that made a round that night. I may be all wrong but doesn't this bouncy track smell a whole lot of the bass line from Jonathan Richman's indie classic Egyptian Reggae? Especially Swedish prog-poppers Dag Vag's version of it?

I've recommended the colorful blog Versions Galore before on the subject of peculiar covers, when I re-posted soulful reggae classics of Mittoo and Holt. This April they posted a couple of takes on Egyptian Reggae and also tell the interesting story behind the track. I picked one of these, Pascal Comelade's concluding piano miniature, along with Richman's original and the song that in turn inspired him, Johnny Clarke's roots reggae anthem None shall escape the judgement, added the two Swedish songs mentioned and incorporated them into a 15 minute megamix:

Egyptian Hubbabubba from Jo/No at Letsmix.com.

Versions Galore serves up additional versions and remixes (as well as the nifty illustration I borrowed above) and VG's Leopold Scotch states:

"Not quite Egyptian and not quite reggae either, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers big ‘hit’ Egyptian Reggae oddly earned him one-hit-wonder status amongst most music philistines. However, as leagues of new indie acts worth their weight inPitchfork reviews will attest (including a name drop in in LCD Soundsystem’s self consciously referential Losing My Edge), his influence on the burgeoning punk and new wave movements of the late 70s cannot be overstated. Despite that, his instrumental Egyptian Reggae is still a standout track and one with a peculiar history. Seems Jonathan had started out trying to cover the Earl Zero penned Johnny Clarke reggae classic None Shall Escape The Judgement but somehow got it wrong and ended up with what the more ‘Eastern-influenced’ Egyptian Reggae. While most Jamaicans spotted the hook right away (including a wildly pissed off Earl Zero), it wasn’t until years later that Zero eventually got his dues in the form of a co-writer credit."

UPDATE as of 17th of June 2011:

Recommendable blog Digger's Re-edits just highlighted a modern edit of Johnny Clarke's stellar classic by Kid Gusto, that also serves up more groovy edits on his Tumblr and Facebookpage. This one is featured on Gusto's forthcoming Mix Tape 'Reflections', coming out on TrueGrooves (CD) and on a Bstrd Boots 12" EP, Spring/Summer 2011.

Johnny Judgment-KG-EDIT (PRE-RELEASE) by KidGusto

Orient Express

2011-05-26T11:57:00.004+02:00

Orient Express - Abdullah Dollar (Jean Pierre Massiera '83) by Jonos Audio

While fetching source material for one of my two post's worth of Ahmed Fakroun's Libyan disco over at Kefir 80's, I also couldn't resist to pick up this disco rock funk anno 1983 from Orient Express. As one could tell from it's novelty cover, this perhaps is not meant dead serious but I'll appreciate the combination of this simple yet effective groove and the oriental leanings.

Turns out that it's actually a French guy behind the moniker by the name of Jean-Pierre Massiera, who may ring a bell for friends of progressive psychedelia. At least as the obscure hungry Finders Keepers label re-released his schizoid sonic sketchbook Horrific Child a while ago, and he seems to have been a rather active fellow.

Abdullah Dollar is just the B-side while the flip Inch Allah (that you'll also find over at Kefir 80's) is a cover of geeky Johnny Wakelin's afro-exotica-rock-nastiness Zaire. Malmö's odd disco connaissuer Diskoakademin recently shared the original as well as another of Wakelin tunes on the same African theme. Hu, check that cover and give it a spin at your own risk...

Revolution Rock

2011-05-15T14:49:00.003+02:00

Ahmed Fakroun - Njoom al lyel (1974) by Jonos Audio

Despite their courageus efforts, the Libyan people have still not until this date gotten rid off their autocrat since the last 40 years, Muammar Gaddafi. Back in February, right after the revolution began, I posted a couple of songs by Libyan artist Ahmed Fakroun HERE. I saved my favourite though, in hope to return to after a successful outcome, but now is rather the time to fuel the drawn-out uprise.

Been playing this one to death for the last three years now; both at home, in my headphones out jogging and every single time I've been invited to DJ at events (to great response from the crowd, I may add). Just love this bass and flute heavy reggae rocker!

Njoom al lyel (I've seen at least three different spellings of the title) was produced in 1974 by Tommy Vance in London and features on the full length album Awedny, which now thankfully is available for digital purchase from CD Baby. That's where I bought it and encourage you to do the same if you like it half as much as I do, as the artist apparently recieves a good part of the revenues.

According to Discogs, Njoom al lyel was also featured in a shorter single version as the flip side to the likewise mighty fine Awedny 7", which Fakroun himself shares over at his Bandcamp site (and which I've tried to embed below).

The beautiful desert photo above was shot by Alvaro Sanchez-Montañes.

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Nubian Funk

2011-03-12T11:10:00.009+01:00

After this winter's successful revolution in Egypt I've planned to post a couple of my favourite musical delights from the region. Starting out with revered "Godfather of Nubian music", mr Ali Hassan Kuban (1933-2001), whose heavy grooves and hypnotic rhythms are evidence of both the African roots of Egyptian pop music as well as the incorporation of outside elements and instruments, from Cuban stylings to the soulful funk from James Brown.

His loyal followers are not only the members of Cairo's Nubian community, but his distinctive voice and performing skills made him hugely popular throughout all of Egypt with record and cassette sales in millions. In the late 1980's he was introduced to a western audience by the compilation From Nubia to Cairo: Dancing down the Nile (Piranha) followed by tours and recording sessions in Europe and albums like Walk like a Nubian and Nubian Cairo Wedding Classics. In his prime it is said that Kuban used to have up to seven different bands and employed over 60 musicians and that no Nubian wedding party was complete without an appearance by Kuban.

The playlist I've (tried to) embed to the right is provided by Världsmusikcaféet and is a chronological selection of Kuban's output available in the western market (you may have to adjust the size or visibility on the player yourselves though, sorry 'bout that...)

Personally I'm most fond of his earlier sides, the three first tracks here in particular. The fifth tune may strike as an odd fusion of Scottish and Egyptian music with it's deep bagpipe sound. However it's Kuban's own local variant of bagpipe known as girba, or tar, which apparently is an usual instrument also in Egypt.

For track details visit the comments below.

Libyan Disco (re-up)

2011-02-28T12:57:00.011+01:00

Ahmed Fakroun by Jonos Audio

The brave people of Libya's revolution is still very much ongoing and reports of lunatic Gaddafi's desperate final actions get's more gruesome day by day. I'll pray for a swift resolution and that this autocrat after more than 40 years in power gets what he deserves and doesn't sneak out through the back door.

Every revolution has its own soundtrack and I truthfully have no idea what sounds that gets Libya's youth of today going. Back in 1983 however, Libya's very own Ahmed Fakroun rocked the crowd both at home and in Europe (well, at least he recorded many of his best tunes over here).

I posted Prince Language's brilliant 2007 edit of Soleil Soleil, Yo Son, 1,5 year ago here but noticed that the link have gone defunct. Since then generous blogger Kefir 80's have posted the majority of Fakroun's Mots D'Amour album so I have for this re-up added the original album version as well as an additional number, Gelty, from his rips. In my mind none of these other tracks doesn't quite compete with Soleil Soleil, as they strike me as more 80's mainstream and cheesy, but they're definitely still danceable and gets me in a good mood.

Do yourselves a favor and visit Kefir 80's if you enjoy these tunes and check out my previous post for some background info on Fakroun and Libya's history as well as the Soleil Soleil video and useful links. I just may post some more tracks of Fakroun's earlier output soon so do join me on Facebook to keep updated! Until then you may discover and buy Fakroun's music online over at CD Baby and let's all hope for a successful overthrow of power and a great new beginning for Libya.

Swedish Delights of 2010

2011-01-26T00:13:00.004+01:00

2010 been such a great year for Swedish music. Can't remember if I ever consumed so many new contemporary Swedish records in a year as in this past one. Above picture of my shelf capture 25 mighty fine independent label releases in various formats and here I will briefly highlight a few of these.

Goran Kajfes - X/Y (2CD, Headspin Recordings)

One of the Sweden's most prominent trumpeter Goran Kajfes, known foremost from his excellent group Oddjob, delivered a delicately packaged double album late last year. My brother was kind enough to give me a copy for christmas and I been really enjoying both of the two rather different CDs lately. The monstrous opening tune of X, Sand Boogie, sets the bar and displays some of the influences in the stew; heavyweight spiritual jazz with chunks of African vibes. Elsewhere other worldly delights show up along with tabla drums and Kajfes Subtropic Arkestra.

The second CD, Y, offer a rather different approach with a certain electronic presence. Ethereal jazzy ambient which resembles the works of Jon Hassell. Not as enthralling as X but definetely also worthwhile. Reminds me of an old soundtrack Kajfes did for an Orson Welles documentary, The Well, that I keep returning to.

V. Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble - Lover Man (LP, Kalligrammofon)

One of two Viktor Sjöberg releases this autumn that has been receiving plenty of spins is this inspirational take on the old jazz standard Lover Man, most famously recorded by Billie Holiday. While the whole album is supposed to be built upon this nugget you may only hear it on one of its seven tracks. A collaborative affair featuring many associates of Sjöberg, recorded both in San Diego, where he recently relocated, and in his old home town of Gothenburg.

The flip side's opening I don't know is by far the record's most energetic track, while the bulk part of the album is explorative in a more hushed and low-key manner. Deeply personal work from an artist whose work never stops fascinating me. This year's solo effort Breakfast in America, featuring Jens Lekman, on the St. Ives imprint is also terrific and deserves a post of its own.

OK Star Orchestra - Sound Classique (CD, Dreamboat)

I've been expressing my love for this lively Stockholm trio before on several occasions (e.g. HERE, HERE and HERE). Yet I haven't grown tired of them, especially not since they keep growing as a live act, with several new guesting musicians each time I've catched them perform. Last year also saw them opening up for wheel chair kings Staff Benda Billi and I bet they will reach even bigger audiencies in 2011.

VED - Gershwin's Pipe (LP, Psychic Malmö)

A psychedelic vision of one man, multi-intrumentalist Mattias Nihlén, drawing inspiration from his childhood vacations in Greece, Italian soundtrack maestro's Goblin and middle eastern surf guitar and bouzuki. VED weavs rhythmic intrumentals with samples of found sounds from blurry cassettes, as in Evergreens below. VED also released a strong 12inch last year on Lugnet Records (which can be heard streamed HERE) as well as put together a live band.

WON - The Silent Decade (LP, Psychic Malmö)

WON is yet another groovy act released on the prolific local label with the self explainable name. The Malmö scene has really been booming with loads of great releases this past year on numerous labels whereof several on Psychic Malmö. The debut of WON certainly lives up to the label's high standard and comes of as inspired by bass-heavy new-wavish post-punk-funk of A Certain Ratio, ESG and their likes. Have a listen to the title track, The Silent Decade

Skeppet - Split LP w/ Streetdrinkers (LP, Release the bats)

Spacey kraut pop from young Malmö duo, with some sweet drums and hazy guitar plucking. Lovely! All of their releases up to date have been top notch, including their recent seven inch on the Solförmörkelse imprint. Personally I am not as fond of the B-side's contribution from gloomy Street Drinkers. Simply not my cup of tea. A full LP from Skeppet is apparently on it's way from RTB that also recently released another split LP where the tow contribuing artists is more in sync with each other, that of Smycken and Viking Jews. Especially the later's hypnotic side of their blue vinyl is pure bliss, for fans of Dolphins into the future and their likes. Have a listen to Skeppet's long and hypnotic Sargasso

BEAST is another Malmö duo that made a name of themselves during 2010. Organ and digital drums in epic collaboration. Long enduring numbers, often more up beat than this lovely tranquil piece with its adorable video accompaniment, borrowed from Italian mondo-docu Ultime grida dalla savana. Not too much is available on plastic yet but a nice split 12inch with Magic State and Roll the Dice on the Neosordo imprint. This spring BEAST is taking on the world, with a first stop in Berlin and then off to Rio de Janeiro.

Tape feat Bill Wells - Fugue (12", Minority)

A relaxing piece of vinyl from Stockholm veterans Tape, teaming up with soothing pianist Bill Wells and Wildbirds & Peacedrums drum maverick Andreas Werlin. A bit somnambulic in a nice way and a fine addition to their discography, even though I personally would appreciate if all involved would experiment more instead of keep hassling with easy hummable repetative melodies.

Just too many excellent Swedish releases this year. Here's some other big favourite's of mine (that I may try to cover sooner or later, Swedish readers may find more on these on Spisa.org where I more regularly post recommendations):

Råd Kjetil Senza Testa - Vinliden (LP, Kalligrammofon)
Viktor Sjöberg - Breakfast in America (LP, St. Ives)
Vidderna / Ljudbilden & Piloten (split 12" EP, Neosordo)
Chicacojazzen - s/t (LP, Irrlicht)
Drivan - Disko (LP/CD, Smalltown Supersound)
Moon & Sun - The Wild Things (10", Beep Beep)
Peter Broderick / Johan G Winther (split 7" EP, Tenderversion)
Oskar Schönning - Belgrade Tapes (CD, OSR)
Lekverk - Everyday (CD, Parallell)

Winter Solstice (MIX)

2010-12-22T12:45:00.005+01:00

On account of the winter solstice yesterday I found myself re-visiting this old selection of wintery pop, Japanese electronica, eastern-tinged jazz and German schlager, that I originally compiled way back in 2004.

Despite that some of the more beat-driven and electronic numbers may come across as perhaps a bit dated, I found the playlist truly pleasant for unwinding to in this hectic christmas season and thought I'd re-upload it!

Winter Solstice MIX from Jo/No at Letsmix.com.

I'm especially fond of the later half of this selection, suitable for late night endorsing, featuring Boyd Rice's "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" (note to self: must check out that guy's discography), Aki Onda's "Toward a place in the sun" (which was the title I borrowed for the original post) and Zarah Leander's immortal version of "Send in the clowns", "Wo sind die clowns". And that silly Wunder track, featuring a sample from Hoagy Carmichael, still manage to put a smile on my face after all these years!

Merry christmas!

Around the World in 60 min (MIX)

2010-11-23T16:37:00.000+01:00

Been a while since I last posted any compilation here so I figured I go ahead and try out Let's Mix freeware that I thought looked fairly convenient and easy to use (and it was!).

The following selection of peculiar rhythms, odd covers and rare grooves from distant lands and long gone times, can both be downloaded as a zipped package of individual mp3s from Sharebee HERE and listened to mixed below. Nations represented include India, Finland, Senegal, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Greece, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and beyond. Enjoy the journey!

Around the World in 60 min (Nov 2010) from Jo/No at Letsmix.com.

Many of these gems is culled from blog excursions in recent years, hailing originally from dusty bins in far away countries and brought to my attention by generous fellow bloggers digitilizing.

A few of these cuts have also re-surfaced on compilations available for purchase from quality labels such as Soundway, BBE, Subliminal Frequencies, Strut and Finders Keepers. Track 4 is e.g. featured on Soundways forthcoming Thai comp Sound of Siam (that I btw just ordered from cdwow for the nifty pre-order-price of £10 including postage...)

Thanks and praise to these compilers and to the fellow music blog community for continuing the persistent unearthing of unknown peculiarities!

Armenian Rock'n'Rollo

2010-11-09T17:29:00.004+01:00

Chick Ganimian & his Orientals (1959) by Jonos Audio

Ever since I tasted the Armenian delicacy of walnuts steeped in syrup (picked green which then turn black, moist and tender) offered by an ex-colleague of mine some time ago, I've been looking for more Armenian delights. Lately I picked up a few out in the blogosphere, not of gastronomical nature though but musical such, including a tribute to the sesame sweet Halvah.

Charles "Chick" Ganimian (1922-1989) was an Armenian-American oud virtuos who pioneered Eastern musical styles in the US in the 1950's at Belly Dance parties and ethnic music clubs. One of his sole full lengths under his own name is Come With Me to the Casbah, a weird and lovely mix of standards and originals, where western R'n'R meets music from his parents country. His Daddy Lolo ("Rock'n'Roll in oriental tempo") for instance is an adaptation of the Armenian traditional Dari Lolo (check out Kef Oud master Richard Hagopian's more traditional version HERE). The bomb here for me personally is Ganimian's title track, that have showed up on several sleazy R'n'R/B comps through the years, like on the raunchy Jungle Exotica.

John Berberian's Middle Eastern Rock (1968) by Jonos Audio

A decade later, a second Armenian oudist by the name of John Berberian recorded his version of the catchy Come with me to the Casbah, renamed Iron Maiden for his psychedelic Middle Eastern Rock. This is a more concise effort all together with no week points straight from the opening notes of the self explainatory The Oud & The Fuzz.

That same year, 1968, Ganimian featured prominently on the jazz cameleont Herbie Mann's The Wailing Dervishes, along with vibraphonist extraordinarie Roy Ayers and other top players. The album's closing Armenian Lullaby comes off more like a Ganimian solo number than Mann's ordinary big band jazz, truly beautiful.

Herbie Mann feat. Chick Ganimian - Armenian Lullaby (1968) by Jonos Audio

Thanks and praise to the original uploaders Twilight Zone, Velvety Sheath and Record Fiend! Reader's recommendations for more Armenian related delights is much appreciated!

Join Jo/No on Facebook!

2010-10-05T21:04:00.008+02:00

Just wanna to draw your attention to the fact that Jo/No's Audio Delights is now represented on Facebook!

I've set up sort of an appendix site HERE that you as a reader are more than welcome to join by simply press the "Like" button here below or up to the right. Here I intend to post short and swift music related recommendations, videos, links, news flashes and listening suggestions almost daily.

The idea is to keep more of a constant flow of posts whenever inspiration comes along, as I lately felt a frustration of not finding the time nor peace of mind to write that many longer "real" blogposts.

By joining the Jo/No's Facebook site you will get all updates from now on in your ordinary Facebook news feed. You will also be able to see all the latest updates from this Facebook site streamed here to the right at all times.

Would love if you join me!

Speechless Sleepwalk

2010-09-25T09:33:00.005+02:00

A couple of weeks back I had some severe complications with my vocal cords - lost my voice completely and had to keep my big mouth shut for more than a week on my doctor's order to get back my ability to speak. An interesting experience for sure and it came as a healthy reminder to be more caring when my body tells me that enough'z'enough and it's time to call it a day.

Anyway, it was nice to be home for a few days and what better way is there to pass the time than listening to music? Especially instrumental such, when you're in the capacity that I was.

Santo & Johnny's adorable little ditty "Sleepwalk" from the late 1950's is a well known and much loved Hawaiian inspired steel guitar tune that've often figured on movie soundtracks when directors looking for that homely greasy diner feeling. This is music that my own mother would scold me about for being too cheezy, i.e. stuff that not even her generation is enjoying, but I honestly digs this exotica twang a lot!

So did former Fleetwood Mac member Peter Green who have mentioned "Sleepwalk" as his main inspiration for their soothing 1969 hit "Albatross".

A contemporary artist who in turn have been so inspired of the latter song that he decided to make an intire album trying to reinterpret it is Dorset resident Michael Tanner a.k.a. Plinth.

It should be said from the start that Tanner himself have expressed that he feels he failed miserably making something remotely reminiscent of the original, but in turn I must say he ended up with something quite beautiful in it's own right.

I've been a dedicated follower of mr Tanner's musical output since some of his very first distributed recordings on the small Dorset Peaens imprint back in the early 2000's and still enjoy portions of his tentative and mainly ambient efforts once in while.

Michael Tanner is also an occasional collaborator of Dorset comrade Nick Palmer's Directorsound, who are about to release a new album upon fine Swedish imprint Tona Serenad this October entitled Two Years Ago Today.

This is an utterly delightful album that I've been spinning a lot lately, echoing old french movie soundtracks with loads of accordion, banjo, glockenspiel and charm, and I will most likely find myself writing about it again as soon as it is released!

Persian Delights (re-uploaded)

2010-09-11T09:19:00.014+02:00

As this weekend marks the end of the Ramadan with the big Eid El-Fitr festivities I thought It would be a good time to re-upload my old post of funky pre-revolution Iranian pop music that I posted on account of another traditional Muslim celebration but whose original mp3-links have been dead for a while.

This post, Nowruz Nostalgia: 1970's Funky Iran, have proven to be this blog's most popular piece by far ever since it was published 1,5 years ago and considering this past month's traffic the interest don't seem to decline as this particular post have four times as many views compared to the second most popular post here at Jo/No's (which btw was Swinging Addis)!

Besides my own rip of the 16-year old Googoosh's take on Nemiad and two tracks on courtesy of Snap Crackle 'n' Pop, I've extended the short playlist with another beautiful Googoosh number from the 70's named Applausi, found on the same 7-inch as her Aretha Franklin cover of Respect that I've shared in my other blogpost of Iranian goodies HERE.

An extensive collection of Iranian pre-revolution music, videos and archival material can be found over at Iranian.com, including the Applausi seven inch and other Western flirts like the funky and infectious Want Ad's (just press the play-button to listen!), where Googoosh sounds like the Jackson Five's lost Iranian sister, advertising for "young men, single and free" and perhaps gives you a clue why she later was ostracized from Iran after the religious takeover in 1979.

FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS, LISTENING and READING:

Visit the original post Nowruz Nostalgia: 1970's Funky Iran as well as the follow up Nowruz Nostalgia Pt.2: More Pre-Revolution Persian Pop for more mp3's, videos and advice on currently available re-releases of vintage Iranian music, including Finders Keepers great compilation Pomegranates.

UPDATE as of January 2012:

By popular request I've uploaded a mp3 of Googosh's Applausi HERE (only a 128kbps rip though, since that's all I have)

Colombian Currulao

2010-09-06T15:15:00.003+02:00

Peregoyo y su Combo Vacana - Descarga Vacana (from Tropicalisimo, World Circuit 1989, originally recorded for Disco Fuentes in 1972)

I found this tropical tune, hailing from 1970's sunny Colombia, most unexpectedly at an Antique fair in Kista on one of previous winter's absolutely coldest days. Needless to say someone up above couldn't have choosen any better record to lift my spirit up (along with the vinyl copy of the same label's Cumbia Cumbia compilation that I also was fortunate enough to score that day). The standout track for me on the record is side A's concluding Descarga Vacana, with its extended and infectious grooves that have kept me on a high ever since.

My favourite music blog discovery this summer have been the brilliant Holy Warbles, that have provided me with up to 168 new posts of utter delights each month (compared to this lazy blogger's maximum of 5...) with a personal selection of just about anything imagineable! This very rip is also a labor of their efforts (as this lazy blogger apparently don't rip too many vinyl's himself...) and I owe them big time. Can't recommend them enough!

Another dedicated blogger is El Stinkeyes who have shared an earlier record (confusingly with the same cover pic though) with Enrique Urbano Tenorio, nicknamed Peregoyo and hailed the "King of the Currulao", and give us the following introduction:

"Currulao is an African rhythm; it is employed in singing about the misfortunes of love, feasts of the saints, or for lamenting the loss of a child. After more than five centuries of neglect, the Pacific coast of Colombia, one of the country's best kept secrets is gradually beginning to shed its isolation and obscurity. This region is a "New Africa": 95% of its inhabitants are of African origin, brought there to work in the gold mines and plantations during the age of Spanish colonization. The presence of Africana in the Pacific region flourishes in myriads of surviving traditions. One of the most accessible is music.

The first orchestra to record in the whole Pacific region was undoubtedly Peregoyo back in the 1960s; for that matter the Combo Vacaná was one of the first to record Afro-Colombian music in the entire country. Peregoyo, a variant of the word "emperegoyado" that refers to a person who always looks sharp and is well dressed and groomed and so naturally a maestro, is the nickname for bandleader Enrique Urbano Tenorio. Their first long playing record was recorded live with a single microphone and released on Disco Fuentes in 1965 when Peregoyo was fourty-eight. To this day, 87 year old Peregoyo is still composing folk melodies of the Pacific coast to the indigenous rhythms of the Afro-Colombian lands."*

Congolese Soukous

2010-08-23T09:39:00.002+02:00

Tabu Ley Rochereau - Mazé (1980)

Here is another late summer favourite, Congolese Soukous star Tabu Ley Rochereau classic Mazé from the year of my birthday. Apparently Mazé is not the easiest song to get a hold on reissued, even though there exist oh so many Tabu Ley releases (please note for instance that the song is not featured on the record pictured above, chosen merely for its nice look!). Personally I discovered it through its inclusion on the Golden Afrique vol.2 compilation but it is sadly not featured on the otherwise great and widely distributed Tabu Ley best of The Voice of Lightness.

One reason for this may be a blacklisting as a result of historical events. At the Vibes Afrique forum one reader explains:

"In 1981 (or 82) there was a military coup and for almost 9 hours the plotters played Maze after every 15 minutes. The coup was however crashed and the government made sure this song was never aired again, but by this time it was already too popular. When TLR visited Nairobi ( with newly recruited mbilia) a year or so later, he was forced to play Maze several times."

Also of interest (via Saharan Vibe):

"When [Congolese] President Mobutu was removed from power in the late 1990s, Tabu ley returned to Kinshasa and took up a position as a cabinet minister in the government of new President Laurent Kabila. Following Kabila's death, Tabu Ley is still continuing in the same capacity under new President Joseph Kabila."

I don't know whether Tabu Ley is still in politics but if he is he is most definitely the smoothest moving politician around. Look and learn those dance steps, brethren!

Tabu ley maze
Uploaded by ouragahio. - Click for more funny videos.

Sound Classique de OK Star

2010-08-16T22:14:00.009+02:00

The debut album from Stockholm trio OK Star Orchestra, Cobra Sessions (Dreamboat Music 2009), is most likely the singular record I've have returned to most frequently this past year. Their collection of uplifting guitar driven instrumentals initially seemed somewhat light and (too) easy chewable but have instead over and over again proven itself withstanding as nothing else and overlived many at first glance more anticipated releases.

Now the group have delivered a brand new release, Sound Classique (once again on the small Dreamboat imprint), and I am just so happy to report that they've kept the joyful and seemingly effortless stylings of the debut, with its simple two guitars and drum kit setting, and at the same time successfully growned in scope, giving each song room to grow, groove and develop. This mature richness in sound may partly be the results of the many talented collaborators, including legendary Swedish percussionist Per "Per Cussion" Tjernberg, but also because of the Orchestra's heavy touring during the past year that sharpen them up. I've seen them several times by now and the last at time they offered up an amazing three set long show at Stampen with a lots of guests that completly blow me away and recieved rave reviews.

OK Star's music often feels like a warm summer wind from southern latitudes. Inspirational clues can be traced from both African soil, like the lush Palm Wine guitars and the occasional rolling Ju Ju elements, as well as from Western stringbenders like Ry Cooder, Paul Simon and perhaps even Dire Straits.

I totally believe that OK Star with this new album have the potential to break through to a bigger audience if just, lets say some influential international magazine like fROOTS or Songlines get to hear this and digs it half as much as I do! If that happen I wouldn't be too surprised if they land themselves a deal with a record label like Luaka Bob or the like for their next release.

Johnny Sordin is the lush opening cut of Sound Classique, followed by Miss Mirinda and the album's concluding Ela Ela Ela (perhaps a loose Ethiopian reference to the Mahmoud Ahmed classic there, ey?) while the Music For Ya' video clip and the second track in my small tribute playlist, Happy Blue, is off their debut. The latter I've even shared twice before, HERE and HERE, as it simply is one of my favourite songs ever and never fails to get me in a good mood!

Moving On

2010-08-04T11:59:00.008+02:00

Lill Lindfors Tåget rusar fram is another favourite of late. A song about taking off, ending a relationship and get a fresh new start. Included on her 1973 full length Kom igen!, it's a Swedish adaptation of the bearded Doobie Brothers original Long Train Runnin' from the same year, rearranged by Björn J:son Lindh, the ever-present studio musician of the 70's. While this version musically is a rather straight cover the lyrics is different and in a class of it's own, written by Sven Olov Bagge.

I have a weak hunch that the Doobie's original have been sampled in some hit song in recent years but can't seem to recall where. Anyone have a clue?

Breaking Up

2010-08-01T18:10:00.012+02:00

Paul Simon - 50 ways to leave your lover (Pollyn's Re-Edit)

I've been listening to this one a lot lately, for various reasons. Paul Simon's biggest solo hit in his career, his only Billboard #1, from his 1975 album Still crazy after all these years, really serves well by LA collective Pollyn's stripped version, leaving out the more uptempo and humorous refrain in favour of the song's subtle melancholia and that divine martial drum beat of Steve Gadd.

This song have been covered numerous times, for instance by jazzy hiphopers Platinum Pied Pipers HERE and Jamaica's finest Shinehead incorporating the beat from Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Ennio Morricone whistle from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, featured on the great Versions Galore blog HERE. Flight of the Conchords have done their own homage counting 50 ways lovers left Jemaine, and DJ Rux thrown together another nice low-key edit (similar to Pollyn's but in my mind not as good) HERE.

If you want to give it a shot and groove like Gadd, or looking for a nice drum sample to fool around with on your beatbox, you may find this informative clip useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

Picture above via the geeky but sort of fun Nerd Boyfriend.

And while we're on the mellow side of things why not check out Ratatat's clever albeit druggy reuse of Paul Simon's old video for his hit You can call me Al, featuring the one and only Chevy Chase?

Sierra Leonean Palm Wine

2010-07-27T20:51:00.006+02:00

I fell in love with the warm baritone voice of S.E. Rogie (born Sooliman Rogers or Souleman Rowgie) the moment I first heard his Toomus Meremereh Nor Good, included upon Mississippi Records awesome bootleg compilation Love is Love some years ago.

In the small West African state Sierra Leone, palm wine is not only the preferred beverage of the rural population but has also borrowed its name to nickname the guitar driven blues, Maringa, often sung in bars where the same wine is consumed. S.E. Rogie were one of the country's most prominent interpreter of this genre up until his passing in the early 1990's. These four early numbers display his seemingly effortless guitar picking and cheerful songwriting which recall influences from both Calypso and High Life.

Since Rogie's days his old home country have been through many hardships and have for years been having the world's poorest living standard according to UNDP's Human Development Index.

One of the curses for Sierra Leone is paradoxically enough said to be its wealth in natural resources, especially diamonds, which have flamed an enormous corruption and stark violence throughout the years.

"Diamonds - small pieces of carbon with no great intrinsic value - have been the cause of widespread death, destruction and misery for almost a decade in the small West African country of Sierra Leone. Through the 1990s, Sierra Leone’s rebel war became a tragedy of major humanitarian, political and historic proportions, but the story goes back further - almost 60 years, to the discovery of the diamonds. The diamonds are, to use the title of Graham Greene’s classic 1948 novel about diamond smuggling in Sierra Leone, The Heart of the Matter.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a weak post-independence democracy was subverted by despotism and state-sponsored corruption. Economic decline and military rule followed. The rebellion that began in 1991 was characterized by banditry and horrific brutality,wreaked primarily on civilians. Between 1991 and 1999, the war claimed over 75,000 lives, caused half a million Sierra Leoneans to become refugees, and displaced half of the country’s 4.5 million people.
The point of the war may not actually have been to win it, but to engage in profitable crimeunder the cover of warfare. ... Over the years, the informal diamond mining sector,long dominated by what might be called "disorganized crime", became increasingly influenced by organized crimeand by the transcontinental smuggling not just of diamonds, but of guns and drugs,and by vast sums of money in search of a laundry. Violence became central to the advancement of those with vested interests."
(quoted from the insightful report The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone - Diamonds & Human Security downloadable HERE)

Wedding Music

2010-07-25T14:01:00.001+02:00

Last weekend I was honoured to help out as DJ at one of my oldest friends wedding. The whole event turned out real nice and the bridal couple shined in full force all night long! To please a crowd of all ages is some task but as I have a weak spot for old-timers myself I concentrated on party music from long gone times, mainly good humor r'n'b, r'n'r and lounge from the 1950's and 60's, and have a sense that most guests enjoyed themselves as I met a majority of them on the dancefloor at one time or another during the evening.

Since my friend the groom have a deep and passionate interest in Jazz, showcased on his own audio blog that I recommend a visit, and holds Archie Shepp as one of his favourite musicians I had a card up my sleeve for the playlist. The short but sweet You're What This Day Is All About, from Shepp's opus Magic Of Ju-Ju (Impulse 1969), felt like a must but somehow I didn't end up spin it after all as I moved rather head on into more danceable territory.

So here is another attempt to pay tribute to my friend with this tune followed by a few random songs that I did play at the party. Included is all-time party favourites of mine such as Big Maybelle's That's a pretty good love, The Blob, Why does fools fall in love, a storming Bollywood steelguitar twist and a beautiful Swedish ode by Barbro Hörberg that translates "Would you like to be my garbage can?". This last one might very well be my favourite love song in any category!

As the returning visitor of this blog may notice I've just facelifted the layout design somewhat. Felt like I needed some kind of change and at the moment this rather kitschy summer design will do. Although I may get bored with it rather soon (already have?) and likely feel the urge to switch soon again to something more persistent as summer passes.

Haitian Kompas

2010-06-30T13:23:00.002+02:00

As you may very well remember, Haiti was struck hard by an earthquake this winter, leaving the island in a terrible shape with devastating consequences for the Haitian people who suffered gruesomely. Much efforts have since then been put up to give the Haitians a bit of relief. The music blog community have for instance been active to raise funds for NGO's working in the area. Both at the forums Soul Strut and Waxidermy record auctions have been held for the cause and over at Mixtape Riot my favourite DJ Captain Planet compiled an awesome selection of Haitian rare grooves, Music = Medicine, which is obtainable for anyone who donate a few dollars to the trustable Partners In Health organisation.

Even though months have passed since the disaster the need is still big and Captain Planet a.k.a. Chuck Wild confirmed to me a couple of weeks back that the fundraising is still ongoing.

I can wholeheartedly recommend everyone to join the cause and while doing it be blessed with this wonderful 60 minutes mixtape of joyful Haitian old school sounds that most of us will never find at our local recordshop!

"The music of Haiti is influenced mostly by European colonial ties and African migration through slavery. European musical influence derived primarily from the French and by the Spanish-infused influence of Cuba and the bordering Dominican Republic. Styles unique to Haiti include music derived from vodou ceremonical traditions and the wildly popular Compas." (excerpt from "Music of Haiti" @ Wikipedia)

"Compas (in French) or Kompa (in Creole) is a modern meringue [...] The word “compás” in Spanish means “beat” or “rhythm,” and one of the most distinctive characteristics of compás music is the consistent pulsating drum beat, a trait common to many styles of Carribbean music." (excerpt from "Compas music" @ Wikipedia)

Les Shleu Shleu were one of the few featured artists on this mix that I've already was briefly acquainted with thanks to the ever excellent Global Groove blog who have shared a few of their albums. Their energetic take on the Haitian kompa has proved to be right up my alley!

The first cut here, 3 Forces, is the storming opening tune off Music = Medicine. I just love the introduction of that psychedelic chicha-guitar at 2:50! The second, Dans La Vie, is off Les Shleu Shleu's 1969 effort Haiti Terre de Soleil shared HERE. The third number is actually the same track as the first of the bunch but the rip, provided by Global Groove HERE, is rather inferior compared to the first one so that it almost sound like another version. For instance, it almost leaves out parts of the horn melodies altogether, and comes out as sort of a dub version of the former and I actually almost prefer this latter one!

Most Definitely Sampled Pt.2: Massive Mulatu Madness

2010-06-26T11:07:00.002+02:00

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Ethiopian composer, vibraphonist, pianist and percussionist Mulatu Astatke during the last couple of years. The now 68 years old master musician have recently released both a brand new studio album, Mulatu Steps Ahead, as well as a great compilation focused on his formative years, New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975, both upon Strut Records.

The track Yègellé Tezeta ("My Own Memory") is definitely one of the reasons of the late upsurge of interest in Astatke's rich body of work. A dark, moody instrumental with heavy spine-tingling horn harmonies hailing from a 1969 seveninch, with Girma Beyene on the flip, recorded when Astatke just returned home to Ethiopia after a few years abroad.

Last year I wrote HERE with excitement about how rappers K'naan and Mos Def sampled one of Astatke's old nuggets, and recently Nas and Damian Marley dropped As We Enter, the fierce opener of their new collaborative effort Distant Relatives, relying heavily upon Yégellé Tezeta with great effect.

While higlighting this fact my favourite bloggers over at Mixtape Riot also shared Nephews of Phela's awesome 12inch bootleg remix of Yègellé Tezeta, extending the 3 minute original with breaks into a 12 minute dancefloor monster!

As mentioned, Astatke is still well and active and was last year honoured with a celebratory gig in LA as part of Mochilla's three part concert series Timeless. The resulting show are now being released as a stylish DVD package that also includes the shows in tribute of Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai and the late great beatmaster J Dilla.

Anointing the Timeless show with an hour along exposé of vintage Ethiopian stuff he had crate lifting on his 2004 journey to Ethiopia was musician and producer Quantic, whose own lovely music I've been posting before HERE. This gritty as enjoyable mix is now being made available as a welcome free treat.

The Sounds of VTech / Quantic's Mulatu Show Mix

Further listening and reading:

I've been highlighting vintage Ethiopian music before. Check the following posts out if you're interested:

Swinging Addis and Ethiopiques Redux / Most Definitely Sampled (Pt.1)

For an illustrated and informative discography of 1960's and 70's Ethio sounds visit Funkfidelity

Peruvian Psicodélica

2010-06-07T13:50:00.002+02:00

Traffic Sound - Meshkalina (from Yellow Sea Years 1968-71, Vampisoul)

For my 30th birthday party a couple of weeks back my new friend Daniel gave me an awesome homeburned CD-r compilation of vintage sounds from his homeland Peru! I've been enjoying this wild party disc over and over again since and are eagerly awaiting his tracklist covering his frantic selection of rock blasts and the obligatory distorted chicha's.

One of the included tracks that I did recognize already is psychedelic rocksters Traffic Sound's mindblowing Meshkalina - a cult classic from their second album Virgin, originally out in 1969.

I've already asked Daniel for his kind permission to post his comp on my blog to which he agreed and I promise to rip and post it as soon as I'll find the time. But for now I just can't recommend you enough to give Meshkalina a spin as a teaser of this upcoming goodie! I just love the incorporation of vibes in the setting - how about you?!

Visiting Vibraphonist

2010-06-04T09:37:00.000+02:00

Roy Ayers Quartet -Unchain my heart / Comin' Home Baby (Denon, 1976)

Next week Stockholm gets celebrities for visit when our yearly Jazz Festival takes place at Skeppsholmen and boast headliners such as Missy Elliott, Wayne Shorter and Avishai Cohen. The list of performing artist runs a bit low on newcomers for my taste (aside from the exciting power trio of Fire!) but at least one oldtimer which might be fun to see is vibraphonist extraordinaire Roy Ayers.

While being a popular figure among sampling beatheads for years I've personally not been too into his expansive catalogue. This rare 12inch however caught my attention last year when El Goog Ja posted it following up from a second 12inch from the same sessions posted previously at Soundological Investimigations as well as at No Value System.

Featuring the combined talents of guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer Miroslav Vitous, bassist Bruno Carr along with Ayers this Japan only release is a rare as explosive treat. And also on an odd format for Jazz, the 12inch. It's B-side feature a more laidback adventure while the second 12inch, All Blues, strikes me as more experimental.

Until next week I'll try to dig deeper into Ayers discography before I eventually make a visit at Skeppsholmen next weekend. In the meantime this vibraphone battle between Ayers and his drummer is quite amusing entertainment.

Suzuki Blow Up

2010-05-28T15:38:00.001+02:00

Isao Suzuki Quartet - Blow Up (Three Blind Mice, 1973)

I've been a fan of Isao Suzuki's dynamic cello playing for long, and even featured his lovely version of Luiz Bonfa's bossa classic Manha de Carnaval two years ago at this blog here. Besides his laidback Orpheus album from 1976, Blow Up is probably my favourite full-length from him out of the handful of 1970's efforts I managed to come by yet in the Three Blind Mice audiophile catalog.

This past winter I've started contribute regularly at the collective music blog Spisa where we recently had an exchange of favourite tunes with the intriguing Prejka collective. One of my choice tunes for this exchange were the hectic spy movie theme Blow Up, Suzuki's debut as a band leader.

During the years of its recording Suzuki, with his upright bass and cello, were a regular hang around in New York's inner jazz circles, performing with Art Blakey, Woody Shaw and several others (see pic's here, and do note that the accompanying pic above is of a much later date as the elderly Suzuki is still active, always dressed posh).

Another Suzuki release of great interest is his collaboration with The String Band upon the Flying Disk imprint in 1978, where he plays the piccolo bass and is accompanied by a second bass player for an even heavier sound. As all Suzuki releases, originals as well as reissues, this one is fetching top dollars in auctions and for once I've not even been able to track down a ripped copy. In the meantime this YouTube clip of its energetic opener Nica's Dream surely wet my appetite to hear the whole thing! If anyone have a rip of it to share I would really appreciate it!

Further listening and reading:

I've posted music by Isao before along with another J-Jazz classic, Naosuke Miyamoto's beautiful Coltrane tribute One for Trane here: Three for Spring

La Folie du Jour recently compiled a nice selection of Three Blind Mice choice cuts here

Things & Stuff & Music shares a few Suzuki albums here

Illustrated Isao Suzuki discography here

Several other artist's versions of Nica's Dream is available here

Loads of J-Jazz is floating around in the blog-o-sphere, see for instance this forum thread for tips

Polish Spring Jazz

2010-05-25T14:57:00.001+02:00

Zbigniew Namyslowski - Beautiful Lola, Flower of the North (Decca UK, 1964)

Here is a soulful and lively Polish jazz number that have been a personal favourite for years. The original title reads Pekna Lola, Kwiat Polnocy which translates Beautiful Lola, Flower of the North, and it's the opening cut on the first internationally released Polish record ever, Lola. Decca releases are commonly known for their very high recording quality and this release is no exception.

The original uploader, the generous Folkshienne over at Waxidermy (I truly recommend you to check out his many awesome posts there), comments "Looking at the cover it's hard to understand how the baby faced Zbigniew managed to come up with this LP [...] He was also the oldest in the quartet" and one can only agree. Spiritual bossa flavoured rhythms aiming straight for your feets. Namyslowski is otherwise perhaps best-known for appearing on the Krzysztof Komeda album Astigmatic (1965) but is still active today.

Nowruz Nostalgia pt.2: Pre-Revolution Persian Pop

2010-04-17T10:20:00.001+02:00

As my previous post with vintage Iranian music from yesteryear have proven to be one of this blog's most popular ones I thought I'd highlight a few recent top-notch compilations on the subject with a nifty little playlist.

First and foremost I'd dearly would like to recommend Finders Keepers newly released selection Pomegranates, focusing on Persian pop, disco, wah-wah funk and prog-influenced psych jams issued in the 1960's and 70s before the current regime of Muslim fundamentalists took over in 1979 and did their best to rid the country of Westernized music, including a total ban of female artists.

A vibrant music scene were then shut down over night, records detroyed and artists were forced to flee their country. National icons such as Googoosh along with all females have for instance been banned to express themselves as musical artists altogether.

The compiler of this fine document (from where the first three tunes in my playlist above is lifted) is Los Angeles-based Arash Saedinia who in this radio interview tells about how he succesfully smuggled his own mother's record collection out of Iran in recent years but also dismissing the notion of an "Golden Era" in Iran before the revolution as the Shah's regime was also highly repressive in other senses, whilst promoting modern western influences.

Another anticipated release is Raks Raks Raks filled with Golden Garage Psych Nuggets from the Iranian 60's Scene (27 pieces on the CD edition and 17 on the vinyl). As with almost all Asian countries, the Shadows and the Ventures seem to be the true and primal influence in the Iranian music scene of the most part of 60s. One of the highlights for me here though is Googoosh cover of Aretha Franklin classic soul stomper "Respect", although it perhaps is rather too respectful to the original and quite a long shot from her mesmerising spy movie theme "Talagh" off Pomegranates.

Confusingly enough this comp however don't include any tracks by the group named The Raks (at least not on the vinyl edition that I've been listening to). Their Raks Dance, fusing ethnic rhythm with an Western amplified approach, is instead included on another even groovier (because it streches its selection through to the 70's?) compilation released last year named Waking Up Scheherazade (Grey Past Records), containing not only a bunch of Persian nuggets but also from places like Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt and Armenia. This disc have been compiled by Dutch vinyl junkie extraordinarie Marthy "Huiboki" Coumans, previously responsible for putting together heaps of obscurities such as Malaysian sixties Go-Go numbers on Steam Kodok as well as comp's of odd Hungarian and Turkish Delights.

One of my many favourites off Pomegranates is sitarist and vocalist Abbass Mehrpouya's supergroovy Soul Raga, that Finders Keepers put out as a 7-inch pre-taste before the comp. For obvious reason this heavy sitar funk instrumental makes you think of a spicy Bollywood movie and I can't wait to also lay my hands on Persianna's full length vinyl reissue of Mehrpouya after hearing his African Jumbo!

FURTHER READING, LISTENING & GAZING:

My first post of vintage Iranian tunes: Nowruz Nostalgia (pt.1): 1970's Funky Iran

For an informative and descriptive review collection of Persian progressive and crossover releases check this site out: Progressive Homestead

Recommendable Swedish audio blog Prejka have posted a few Iranian delights lately including this melancholic whistle tune by Farhad that I just adore, on the hardship of the Iranian people: Being Human Being

Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe is an astonishing place that collect worldy delights from all directions, including a number of old Persian seveninches

Pomegranates compiler Arash Saedinia shares a few cool record covers and streams a couple of his selective tracks over at his myspace: Fars Funk

Thai Funk A Go-Go

2010-02-11T09:57:00.001+01:00

The Impossibles – Mister Slow (from Raroeng Chon, 1970s)

Ever since I got back from my month long journey to Cambodia, Thailand and Laos in late 2008, I’ve been planning to post a selection of musical gems found on that trip. While I still have not got around to post any such comp (and start wondering if I ever will) a blogger who acctually have made the effort and produced a very fine travel document is Horse Drawn Zeppelin whose lovely Cambodian Swing Machine have been receiving plenty of plays lately, as have the commercially available Cambodian Rocks series.

A more recent release that just caught my eye is Electric Cambodia (Minky) compiled by Dengue Fever containing 14 tracks of “organ funk, wrong surf, hairy rock, drunken skank, breathless Diddleyism, scrambled exotica and saturated ballads, from late 60s-early 70s cassettes, before the Khmer Rouge obliterated it all.” Can’t wait to hear it as well as catching Dengue Fever live as they are touring Sweden later this spring.

In the meantime, the amount of reissues of vintage Thai music keeps growing. The Stockholm-based quality imprint Subliminal Sounds (home of Dungen) recently re-released a couple of their great Thai Beat A Go-Go compilations of 1960’s material onto glorious vinyl and Sublime Frequencies have dropped yet another volume in their Thai Pop Spectacular1960-1980 series.

One exiting addition to these re-issue labels is the Bangkok-based ZudRangMa, whose two premier releases of Thai Funk comes packaged in sleeves draped in genuine Thai silk of various colours and patterns. The first one of these comp’s ends with a track by The Impossibles, but not the alluring “Mister Slow” that showcases a bit more depth than many other more light weight compositions sprinkled upon these many comp’s that instead often promotes the more funny/kinky examples.

The four track 45rpm Raroeng Chon, that includes “Mister Slow”, can be found at the impressive blog Monrakplengthai, that digs up and shares vintage Thai music, often only available on out of print cassettes. The only question for the novice is where to start. Well, I go for the one’s with the coolest cover. That’s at least how I found my way to The Impossibles.

Apparently these guys are not the totally unknowns that I first suspected. According to the always knowledgeable Oliver Wang at Soul Sides they even recorded an entire album of soul covers with Thai vocals in Sweden during their heydays in the 1970’s. The cool “Mister Slow” however beats the other tracks I’ve heard by them by horse lenghts.

While mentioning my Eastern trip of the other year I could direct your attention to the odd selection I posted while I was there, September Remembered, that I’ve recently re-uploaded for instant play.

Friends of order may note that this playlist acctually doesn’t contain that much Asian stuff, besides a few Indian sides, but all the more banging numbers of Arabic snakecharming flutes, privately pressed jazz, hip Brazilian gems as well as sweet pillow talk. This wild and varied selection was a result of extensive blog hopping back in September 2007. The entire selection may still be downloadable at the original post here.

Angelic Drum Council

2010-01-31T14:10:00.003+01:00

Novicat de Soeurs Missionaires - Yesu Ka Mkwebaze (from Lipa Kodi Ya City Council, Mississippi Records 2007)

One of my most rewarding musical discoveries of 2009 was the mighty fine vinyl-only imprint Mississippi Records, whose ever growing catalogue is filled to the brim with so much essential music from mostly long gone times.

Pre-war blues and sanctified gospel, African unknowns and vintage folk from all around the globe, peculiar outsiders as Theremin pioneers and contemporary jazz eccentrics are all found handpicked on stunning compilations, that often bears the quality of a real good friend’s mixtape, or as straight reissues of other labels out-of-print releases. All editions comes in heavy cartonage sleeves in colourful and distinctly homemade style, as limited vinyls.

The first thing that caught my ears to the label’s output was the heaven sent “Yesu Ka Mkwebaze” from their 13th release Lipi Kodi Ya City Council, a comp containing a varied dozen of African R&B, Pop, Highlife, Palm-wine, Jùjú & Choral pieces recorded between 1967 & 1972, all rare as hens teeth. This serene hymn still blows me away every single time I hear it!

While a number of Mississippi’s releases, as for instance the 1920’s material on comp’s such as their first one, Last Kind Words, might be considered to be in a public domain grey zone others have been blamed for being straight up bootlegs, something that deservingly led to a fare amount of criticism on various forums. The label however claims nowadays being legit and have also direct compensated artists when other rule-based compensations failed.

At least I’m not complaining when the label keeps delivering comp’s as last year’s brilliant Mata la Pena of assorted 78’s from different part’s of the world – easily one of my most frequently played records the last couple of months! As the label itself doesn't even have a website (perhaps not surprisingly judging from their Portland store front pictured above) I rely heavily on Honest Jon 's to provide me these goodies before the 1000 copies of each vanish from the market.

Mississippi also occacionally please their local Portland customers with theme based cassette compilations, and thanks to the awesome Root Strata blog a few of these have surfaced for download (what doesn’t these days?!). The Rootblog also have several other virtues for all seekers of the peculiar. Lately they for instance made my day much brighter by posting the following cute and musically fitted birds:

Hell yeah! Those birds kick Santana's shreding ass any day, or Yo-Yo Ma's for that matter, or Paco's. Ha ha, well this late at night I can't think of anything more hilarious than YouTube shred clips!

Live Low in the Ice Age

2010-01-15T15:35:00.000+01:00

For me, winter is truly the ideal time for deep listening to music that takes it's time to develop, if all, and let your mind drift away. As Sweden is experiencing its first real winter in a long time, with plenty of snow and cold degrees, I've been enjoying loads of contemplative musings in my sofa lately.

One of my favourite late night listens for years have been multi-instrumentalist Eyvind Kang's 2002 effort Live Low to the ground, in the Iron Age released by Abduction (one of Sun City Girls labels besides Subliminal Frequencies). Consisting of four long tracks, where the 26 minute "Binah" obviously stands out as the centerpiece, it never fails to entrance me in its somnambulant manner.

The first half of this composition is more relaxed and arguably not as enthralling as its second half. It mainly consists of a simple, country-tinged guitar melody repeated endlessly, with a soothing drone in the background. Halfway through though, or rather during the ten final minutes, is where things gets interesting when the momentum shifts to let Kang's violin step to the front and solo Henry Flynt-style while the surroundings dissolve. This sounds almost like a non-melodic Scottish bagpipe practice or a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle on the loose and might most probably not appeal to everyone but personally I just love every single minute of it!

Here are some personal thoughts on the subject of minimalism from an 2004 interview with the academic Mr Kang:

"As far as the thing about repetitions, I think it has to do with a function of how time behaves; it doesn't actually matter, does it, how many repetitions there are in a piece? Or if there are any – the moments go by depending on what you consider a moment. George Berkeley said something good about this, in terms of fetishizing the repetitive. Sound frequency is conditioned on repetition of air pressure; maybe all experience, like waking up, eating, etc. is minimalist (or maximalist, depending on your point of view). The past couple years, I'm working more on moments that are not really repetitive at all, but more minimal. Then again, I like the feeling that you get, that you're sort of ascending; it's probably a real kind of brain wave like theta."

Other than this beloved album however I'll have to admit that I'm not so familiar with the solo work of Eyvind Kang. Compared to the diverse full lengths for John Zorn's Tzadik label and the grand oratorio Athlantis (Ipecac 2007) featuring Mike Patton, I sense that Live Low... might be among his most contemplative works. During the past 15 years I've mostly encountered Kang as a guest artist, starting with my high school heroes Mr. Bungle and later accompanying the likes of Laurie Andersson, Blonde Redhead, Bill Frisell and many others.

Last year Kang collaborated with the popular doom lords Sunn O))) on their Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord 2009). In an interview for the Wire (issue #309/April 2009) he described his and the other guest musicians function to Sunn O))) on these recordings as:

"We're like vibrating stones, in a way. Have you ever seen that movie, Meetings With Remarkable Men? It's a movie about Gurdjeff's life, and in the very first scene there are some musicians meeting for a competition to vibrate the stones in the mountains, somewhere in Afghanistan or whatever. They're all playing beautiful music then finally one guy starts singing some overtones and tunes up to the vibrations, the resonance of all these mountains. That's what they did to us. [laughs]"

I just discovered that this old movie is available in its entirety through Veoh and after this peek at the first 5 minutes, tantalizingly ending just as the orchestra is about to start performing, I can't wait to see it when I get home from work!

Watch Gurdjieff - Meetings With Remarkable Men in Educational & How-To View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Meanwhile, gloomy Sunn O))) is heading towards Swedish territory in the coming weeks, and even though I've never been too keen on their dense drone metal on vinyl I'll have to admit that I'm a little bit saddened by the fact that the tickets are already sold out.

A reliable source of joyful consolation lately have been Malmö collective Prejka, that've updated me almost daily with all sorts of progressive delights, both old and new. Yesterday they for instance gladden me with a track by Iranian diva Googoosh (which I just might take the liberty to add to my own Persian playlist Nowruz Nostalgia from yesteryear) and another recent discovery found here is chill-out guru Ariel Kalma. His stunning "Le temps de moissons" from 1975 is simply awesome in ways that I can't even begin to express, in addition to following up "Binah" almost on the same note where the former left of, ascending to God knows where.

"After learning circular breathing from a snake charmer in India, Ariel practiced it on soprano sax – for many sleepless nights – in the basement of a cathedral in New York (when he was not playing upstairs on the large harmonium). Returning to France, which was his birth place, in late ‘76, Ariel could include those endless notes into his own long-delay-effect system with which he toured, playing solo concerts. Ariel contributed to the birth of (then) new music genres: minimalist, space, ambient, new age, electronic etc."

Beta-lactam Ring Records recently re-released this Kalma original along with the likewise interesting jungle fantasy Osmose and claims henceforth in regard to Le Moissons that Kalma pioneered the locked groove (controversially, as there appears to be even earlier exemples):

"Another detail made this LP memorable because it had not been done before: Ariel convinced the pressing engineer to loop the groove at the end of side 2 - thus creating an endless loop - and although it was casually mentioned on the cover, it caused surprises sometimes by sending listeners into trance. or on some occasions burning the motor of their turntable after endless hours!"

The illuminated Igloo at night pictured above was shot by Richard Harrington in 1949. I really recommend you to have a look at his other lovely Eskimo pictures here!

Köln Konzert Redux

2010-01-08T09:56:00.001+01:00

On Christmas eve Swedish Public Radio reprised a very fine documentary (still streamable here) about different people's memories associated with Keith Jarrett's legendary solo concert at Köln Opera hall in 1975, one of the biggest selling and most loved jazz albums of all times. Built upon unrushed interviews on how four long sides of sustained piano improvisations have played a vital part in their lives it delivers several heart-warming stories and perhaps deepen one's own relation with the album. Even my own father recently recalled how he himself terrorised his parents with this album in his youth and how it were more or less part of his immediate environment during the late 70's.

For me personally I did not truly discover Jarrett's beautiful original until I was introduced to it in reworked form as Adam Butler's rendition under his alias Vert, released by Mouse on Mars' label Sonig in 1999.

Plenty of insightful stories have been told about Jarrett's original music, e.g. here about the dubious feelings for its success, but not so much about Butler's clever elaboration on it. Vert's concert is much more minimal and subdued than the original's melodic romanticism but in my mind no less accessible or original. You may see it as a modern dub counterpart.

Vert's Part I dwells in only the first few notes of Jarrett's original opening improvisation (which in turn quoted the actual concert hall's intermission bell) and expands them into a slowly evolving 15 minute piece of both rhythmic and static bliss. I believe that the red remarks on the record cover indicates where Butler lifted his samples to which he adds both different instruments and loops, as cited in Stylus review.

Here is Eric Burger's words on the achievement, where he also shares a lovely mp3 of the fifth and final piece on Vert's album, here:

"For those unfamiliar with Keith Jarrett's solo piano performances, here's what you need to know: one man, one piano, a packed house—a date with genius, or not. Some of Jarrett's solo improvisatory performances are monuments to how a virtuoso bent on self-exploration can startle an audience into rapture and recognition (The Köln Concert, Vienna Concert), while some are monuments to how said virtuoso might never pass through fertile terrain on the journey (Paris Concert). What interests me about them is that—unlike Vert's stellar glitch interpretation/deconstruction/celebration of Jarrett's renowned '75 Köln concert—the solo performances exhibit a familiar (and comforting, I must say) orientation toward the self: we're repositories for discovery, 99% pure at the core, if not completely knowable then at least available where it counts if the vision-quest is vigorous enough. Very '70s, very Romantic—and not bad at all in my estimation.

But Vert's The Köln Konzert takes Jarrett into the 21st century. And though it's less searching and dramatic, it's no less triumphant. Whereas Jarrett's tendency in the solo performances is to vamp for an extended period over one or two repeated chords until something clicks and he takes off in a flurry of improvisation, Vert, in his own solo Köln concert (FYI, performed in a Köln bar) isolates and simplifies critical Jarrett motifs, blends them with the requisite digital whirrs and glimmers of the genre...and produces entrancing music. The piece gets its power from the way Vert plays on the listener’s memory of Jarrett's Köln. Recognizable fragments drift into focus, sometimes disappear too quickly, sometimes get stuck and repeat. Vert's Köln also conjures a 21st century vision of mind-space, which makes it good fodder for this Y2K retrospective and an interesting contrast with its muse: the piece is full of floating debris, the partially glimpsed—and a few really important themes Vert won't let go of no matter what. This is why, when the primary theme from Jarrett's composition emerges cleanly at the end of Vert's, free of blips and sonic mirages, I tear up if I'm listening—rather than having one of my ADD moments. Vert plays it on something that sounds like a glockenspiel and the theme—impelled and yearning in the original, though fragile—is tender here, as if it survived the storm by getting smaller, like a Key Deer. It suggests to me that the core humanist ideals of the '70s—and our essential memories—haven't been obliterated by the march of time, they've just changed. Not bad at all."
— Eric Burger

I encourage Swedish listeners to take the chance and enjoy Anton Karis' radio documentary Kölnkonserten, that is still streamable on SR's website for perhaps a week or two more and available as a 30 mb download here.

Vert have continued to release interesting stuff during the whole past decade while the draped piano pictured above belongs to Joana Vasconcelos.

Mulled Wine Dragon / Christmas Coma

2009-12-29T22:05:00.003+01:00

This time of the year most fellow Swedes consume hefty amounts of mulled wine,"glögg" in Swedish, i.e. warm red wine spiced with clave and cinnamon and served with raisins and almonds. Along with an overconsumption of basically anything eatable and not too much moving around this turns many of us into a certain state of being, a coma if you will.

This characteristic and dreadful symptom have now got an sonorous counterpart in Råd Kjetil Senza Testa's free internet christmas treat Glöggdraken ("Mulled Wine Dragon") which the duo themselves describes as:

"A behemoth of a track, Glöggdraken spans over 56 minutes. Quite in parts and equally brutal at times. Almost entirely recorded live while consuming vast amounts of Swedish traditional glögg. This is what your mind turns into after riding sound waves fueled by the sacred flavors of ancient spiced wine."

This makes for an hour of minimalistic slow motion sludge rock that might appeal to friends of Earth and their likes, with subtle additions by cello maestro Fred Lonberg-Holm. A hazy sleigh ride where not too much is seemingly going on but that yet manages to effectuate a rather tranquil albeit disturbed drone piece that wanders back and forth in dusky territories. At some listens a mere 10 to 15 minutes in the company of Glöggdraken feels like enough while at other times you may find yourself absorbed during the whole duration.

Råd Kjetil have connections with the psychedelic scene surrounding Umeå's The Spacious Mind and The Loving Eye of God, neither of which I am especially well tuned in to. Senza Testa on the other hand, or Jonas Rosén as his mom probably calls him, released the full length album Fabula on Kalligrammofon late last year from which I've already posted the brilliant track "The red elephant battle the bear" (that also featured the graceful cello of Lonberg-Holm) in my re-cap of last year's Swedish releases.

Fabula has proven itself to be a slow grower that I've found myself returning to plenty of late nights during 2009. One of Sweden's foremost reviewers of experimental music, Mats 'Broken Face' Gustafsson, colorfully describes this album in terms of:

"...underwater ceremonies that sound like Eyvind Kang and Folke Rabe dipping their toes in Tangerine Dream-tasting waters. At its very finest Fabula (Kalligrammofon) is music for the beginning or end of a world, and no matter how dramatic that may sound it's difficult to find any more suitable words. Clouds of cello and outstanding piano work color these washes of sound that seem to be stuck in a never-ending loop of atmospheric beauty."

During 2009 Jonas Rosén have continued to deliver several new releases under his Senza Testa moniker with different prefixes on various formats, all housed in a uniform and very appealing costumes. Last month I invested in his brand new seven inch Skull of Sade II (Kalligrammofon), a groovy dub work out of sorts and a follow up to his work under another alias namely The Female Anchor of Sade, whose delicious heavy weight vinyl full lenght I also managed to secure a copy of.

All of these different releases combined showcase an artistic vision that is as interesting as somewhat shattered and holds promises for many more future deeds to look forward to.

Another prolific Swedish artist that also have joined the business of seasonal greetings is Jens Lekman's standing sidekick Viktor Sjöberg, by chance likewise associated with the Kalligrammofon imprint. Along with female sax and cello duo Swote he recently recorded a slumbering version of Swedish traditional Christmas hymn "Gläns över sjö och strand". This subtle rendition makes a nice stepping stone when you've just had it with that mulled wine and wants to wander off to slightly, but just slightly, more melodic pastures at the same time as you don't quite have the energy yet to raise from the sofa but rather need to continue to digest all that Christmas pudding a little longer.

Viktor Sjöberg - Gläns över sjö och strand (kort version) by viktorsjoberg

I've been ranting about my affection for Viktor's music before here and there, and in 2010 his highly anticipated new solo album Breakfast in America is to be released. Worldwide success is inevitable. Remember where you read it first.

Calendar Compilation

2009-12-24T19:45:00.000+01:00

As a seasonal greeting to all readers I’ve uploaded another varied feel good compilation containing a bunch of all-time favourites. This selection originally hails from an Advent calendar that I mailed out to friends, one song a day, back in December of 2005.

Included is some swinging Hawaiian hula-hula, Senegalese M’balax, Brazilian balladry, modern remixes of Balkan and Latino standards, Finnish folk, Indie classics, Halloween Reggae, German Techno hymns and a sentimental Swedish-Persian finale.

In contrast to what one might suspect there is however no traditionally Christmas associated songs found in the mix. Sounds too eclectic for your taste? Well, follow the urge to press play and don’t be shy to leave a comment for any kind of feedback – always appreciated!

The whole 70 minute selection of mp3’s is downloadable in it's entirety as a zipped 77 mb package at Sharebee HERE (where you may choose your preferred download platform - any should work but I would recommend Megaupload or Rapidshare) OR you may download individual tracks from Divshare.

Merry Christmas!

Tracklist:
1. Jesse Kalima – Lepe Ula Ula
2. Cesaria Evora – Besame Mucho (Señor Coconut remix)
3. N.O.H.A. – Balkan Hot Step
4. Clint Eastwood & General Saint – Talk About Run
5. Etoile de Dakar – Thiely
6. Daniel Johnston & Yo La Tengo – Speeding Motorcycle
7. Cumulus – Höstvisa
8. Maria Joao & Saxofour – Um Amor
9. Kuusumun Profeetta – Kovin lentaen kotin kaipaan
10. Hird feat. Yukimi Nagano (of Little Dragons) – I Love You My Hope
11. Pulp – Babies
12. Jürgen Paape – So weit wie noch nie
13. Paavoharju – Valo tihkii kaiken läpi
14. Hans Appelqvist feat. Reza Shayesteh – Degar Bare

Estonian Folk Jazz

2009-12-10T13:56:00.001+01:00

Collage - Suur Tamm (from 47:04, Wool Recordings 2009)

While there currently is a buzz proclaiming that a bed of nails is the official Swedish christmas gift of the year I beg to differ and lay my vote on the new compilation of 1960/70's Estonian jazz pop wizards Collage instead. In a better world it would be.

Thanks to devoted blogger Quimsy I came across Collage's superb blend of scatted vocalizing and jazzy arrangements of traditional Estonian folk hymns already back in 2006, and have been dropping a few of their sweet toothed hits every now and then whenever I have been invited to DJ for a night at shows and parties.

Now French label Wool have gathered a bunch of favourites among the group's output onto (the utterly boring titled) Forty Seven Minutes Four Seconds (why not a more selling title, or at least more descriptive in terms of the actual content, please?!), which should make its way home to me just in time for christmas I hope. As usual, Juno have the whole thing conveniently lined up for sampling purpose.

Further recommended listening: If you dig Collage you may enjoy another uplifting selection of swinging stuff that I compiled in the summer of 2008, including Polish vocal jazz group Novi Singers (with a sound similar to that of Collage), Annie Ross, Erasmo Carlos, Harold McNair and several others; Lose your blues and laugh at life. A worthwhile advice this time of the year too!

Danish Delight

2009-12-08T17:30:00.001+01:00

Balkan - Turkish Delight (from Balkan Spiller, Sonet 1973)

Here is another flea market find from one of this autumn's numerous raids through suburbia's Salvation Army stores. Balkan is a Danish trio who do not hide their influences:

"we are heavily inspired by Slavic and Turkish music, from Bulgarian village weddings to Istanbul's night clubs... we borrow the atmosphere, melodies and rhythms and play it the way we do with Western European musical roots."

While their album comes across indefatigably energetic, where the majority of songs are full frontal speed arrangements, the whole thing actually gets a little too much for me. The reason why I still picked it up out of the bin a couple of weeks back, even after downloading it from Prog Not Frog last year, was mainly because of the magnificant opener on the B-side, Turkish Delight.

This particular track is somewhat of a Turkish influenced fullbodied spaghetti western theme, richer in nuances than the rest of the album. It simply does it for me every time. If you are a fan of high speed Gypsy inspired music and are interested to hear the rest of the album you might still get a hold of it over at Prog Not Frog, which is a valuable site to visit anyway as it is constantly hard at work collecting oddities from all over the world.

PNF also runs an excellent Blogwatch to keep all of us junkies updated about newly dugged up musical treasures from all over the blogosphere.

Behind Kungsträdgården / Camel Jazz

2009-12-05T08:55:00.001+01:00

"Behind Kungsträdgården" is a heavy jazz belter recorded in Stockholm by American born percussionist and trombonist Melvyn Price in 1974. The track's inclusion as well as titling to a Swedish rare groove compilation in the early 1990's raised the stocks of the original privately pressed album Rhythm & Blues and last year saw a very welcomed re-release executed by cratedigging magazine Waxpoetics, rescuing this funky grail from obscurity.

Besides producing a trio of rhythmic releases in Sweden Price also beget an offspring of three sons which he named after his jazz idols Coltrane, Mingus and Marcus Miller. While Melvyn himself apparently is a cabdriver by profession today, his musically talented sons have made themselves famous as Fattaru, Basutbudet and Magnum Coltrane Price.

As Melvyn is showing off his "moose knuckle" on the cover above I came to think of another storming jazz scorcher with a Nordic connection. After years as a session drummer at Motown Records, The Camel was Michael Carvin's debut as a solo leader, recorded together with Sonny Fortune and Cecil Bridgewater among others in 1975 and released by Danish label SteepleChase.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to score me a copy of the original vinyl at my number one store for jazz and worldy delights in Stockholm, Multi Kulti. I was already familiar with the energetic title track, which have been a feel good favourite for years, and although it appears as the high point of the album Carvin also delivers a mighty fine version of Coltrane's classic "Naima".

Turkish Delight

2009-12-01T11:28:00.004+01:00

After my last post's praising of Turkish folk star Selda Bagcan's stunning 1976 debut, a friendly reader directed my attention towards another Turkish delight of the 70's (a comment left on Facebook, as most feedback is. Feel free to also comment right here on the blog - in the comment field under each post. As my counter tells me I've had 15.000 visitors so far I can only assume that at least some of you dig the content herein but any criticism, recommendations, suggestions for forthcoming posts or other comments besides plain spam, is very much appreciated!).

Ersen's selftitled album is the third volume in Finders Keepers reissue series Anatolian Invasion, focusing the golden age of Turkish psychedelic music. A fertile period of creativity stretching from the late 1960's to the imposition of martial laws in 1978. A time where ancient eastern traditions were electrified with western influences of the time.

I have been humming along to Ersen's dulcet vocals all week long now, without a faintest idea of what he's singing about. His groovy basslines and fuzzy breaks makes it impossible to keep my body in control. These are my two favourite songs from the 15 track release, and while they perhaps indicate a certain similarity in stile the whole release is actually a very varied and highly enjoyable effort all way through.

Now is a good time to dip into Finders Keepers growing catalogue of peculiar compilations and eccentric reissues as their webshop is currently offering some very nice package prices as an ongoing christmas sale.

Ethiopiques Redux / Most Definitely Sampled

2009-11-24T12:03:00.003+01:00

The Éthiopiques re-issue series have opened many ears to the golden era of Ethiopian modern music, i.e. the 1960's to 1970's, during the later years of Haile Selassie's rule up to the overthrow of power by the military in 1974. One of the featured artists in this celebrated series have been Tlahoun Gèssèssè, that sadly passed away earlier this year.

Besides the CD reissues, that have now kept on coming during the last 10 years or so (at least I remember buying one of the first volumes back in 2001), the responsible label Buda Musique in 2008 launched a vinyl subseries in cooperation with L'arome, collecting particular stand out tracks from the CD's onto handsomely packaged LP's.

I recently bought the first two volumes in this Ethiopian Urban Modern Music series from my preferential record dealer Honest Jon (that only charge £9,99 per copy, a bargain since most other stores offer them for the double price) and even though I've already played most of the included tracks to death for years I'm as a happy as a child on christmas eve to be able to listen to these jewels from luxiourus vinyl.

This summer I was sitting out in my backyard enjoying the weekly episode of my favourite radio show Klingan when I was seduced by this Gèssèssè original and moments later by Somali born rapper K'naan effectful use of the same piece to create his own brilliant track "America", featuring Mos Def and Chali 2NA.

A couple of weeks back I scored a used copy of K'naan's new album Troubadour and believe to have spotted a few additional samples of Ethiopian heritage on it. While I'm usually not that into hiphop I would say it's a very nice effort, a feel good album for mainstream appeal with plenty of good melodies and intelligent concious lyrics (check out "Somalia" for another taster).

"Lanchi Biya" ("Just for you") was arranged by the in-demand multi-instrumentalist Mulatu Astatke back in 1970 and is also featured on his brand new retrospective New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 (Strut 2009), a release that is making it's way to my home adress at this very moment and that I might return to in a separate post. I don't know yet whether it's the same version that I share here though, which I picked from the 17th volume of Éthiopiques entirely focused on Gèssèssè's output as is the 4th installment in L'arome's vinyl series.

Following smoothly in the beaten track of "America" is Paris DJs Soundsystem's effective mash-up between an old Gainsbourg nugget and UK rapper Roots Manuva's "Witness the Fitness", resulting in "Requim for a witness". A personal favourite of late, followed by the timeless as heavy original, "Requim por un con", that I'll never get tired of.

To bring circles together we got beatsmith Dr. Oh No (hmm, how come I like this guy already with a name as similar to my alias as that? Besides being the brother of Madlib i.e.) who also have gone public with a love for vintage Ethiopian sounds with his brand new mix cd Ethiopium (Stones Throw, 2009) of instrumental beats and breaks solely constructed from crackling old Ethiopian stuff. As a gimmick for the release his label Stones Throw also launches a coffee sort with the same name.

One of Oh No's previous instrumental hiphop albums, The Experiment, was solely built on Turkish, Lebanese and Greek psychedelic rock of the 1970's into a banging mix of fuzz and exotic orientalism. The opener on that album, self-explanatory titled "Heavy", has recently been used as the blue print for the storming opening number "Supermagic" on Mos Def latest full-length album, The Ecstatic.

I guess though that neither Oh No or Mos Def needed to put too much effort into this production considering the sheer raw energy inherent in the original song "Ince Ince" by Selda Bagcan that they've sampled.

Selda Bagcan's 1976 full-lenght debut album, as far as the humble looking cover goes a wolf in sheep clothing, was un-earthed for more ears than just Eastern phych afficionados by the eccentric hungry Finders Keepers label as part of their Anatolian Invasion series in 2006. Lucky for us since it's a blast from the past.

Before it's release Selda had made a name for herself as a traditional Anadolu protest singer with a spectacular vocal capacity. This background didn't quite forsee the frantic and fuzz drenched hybrid folk album that were to follow. Selda's radical musical prose along with the equally radical musical gestures were not looked keen on by paranoid Turkish authorities however and she would face several jail sentences and travel restrictions in the years to come. This didn't put an end to Selda Bagcan's career though and she is apparently still active up to this date.

Further listening & reading:

I have since this post published yet another example of modern hip hop re-using of vintage Ethiopian grooves, as Nas and Damian Marley the spring of 2010 sampled another Mulatu Astatke composition for their Billboard hit "As We Enter". Listen to both along with a nifty remix HERE: Most Definitely Sampled Pt.2/Massive Mulatu Madness

Also, check out my previous post on groovy Ethiopian music as well as a few words on Polish author Ryszard Kapuscinski's brilliant rendition of the downfall of Emperor Haile Selassie, HERE: Swinging Addis

Italian Psychedelia

2009-11-19T16:29:00.002+01:00

Le Orme - Evasione Totale (from Collage, 1971)

Here is an hammond infused midnight groover from Italian prog-rockers Le Orme. I had planned to post this peculiar number a few weeks ago when celebrating my hammond playing brother's birthday, as I just know that he will dig this one. To prove his preferences I could mention that he recently bought one of Bo Hansson's (of Hansson & Karlsson) vintage organ's straight from the legend himself...

I can't tell you much about this pale and bearded band though. The original uploader, Cosmic Cheese, might be able to offer more information. If you enjoy this track or are a fan of progressive jams that are striving more towards groove than to rock, I urge you to pay him a visit as he has been serving up esosteric delights all year long. Praise is due!

And if you are interested to know what kind of sounds Bo Hansson's old hammond organ is used to produce nowadays you are welcome to check out my brother's trio Infantilt Inferno, that I've featured on one of my previous compilations of Swedish Delights, listenable here.

Romanian Jazz

2009-11-04T10:41:00.001+01:00

A dear friend of mine is heading down to Bucharest for a weekly sejour, partly inspired (I suspect at least) by the fine writings of Romania's celebrated author Mircea Cărtărescu. I hereby got a good enough reason to return to this great compilation of 1960's-70's Romanian Jazz that the Jazzanova affiliated label Sonar Kollektiv licensed a few years ago from the Electrecord archives.

I find it rather impressive that this poor country (in economic standards i.e.), that were held in repressive strains already from the late 1940's Communist regime and onwards during Nicolae Ceauşescu's 25 years of totalitarian power, still managed to produce such viril and modern music on the other side of the iron curtain. Perhaps jazz escaped the rigorous censurship that inflicted on many other art forms, for instance on writers such as Cărtărescu?

While listening repeatedly to the several stand out tracks on here, whereof Marius Popp's energetic Xybaba is probably my personal favourite, and doing a little research I stumbled upon this blog, devoted solely to Romanian jazz.

I've been diggin overthere all afternoon and recommend a visit. Pictured above is a few of their shared albums that so far have ended up in my digital treasure trove. I'm especially thankful for bassist and pianist Johnny Raducanu's Jazz in tera mea/Jazz in my country, that features the killer track Balada, also included on the Sonar comp.

Please do yourselves a favor and invest in a copy of Sonar Kollektiv's stunning and consistent compilation if you develop an interest, as the originals are probably impossible to find anyway. I could also recommend the other volumes in the Kollektiv's reissue series of vintage eastern european jazz, Poland's pride Novi Singers, and more.

Further listening:

I've been posting groovy Romanian music before here at Jo/No's, yet of a distinctly more contemporary nature as Roman Manele, the modern day working class music of Bucharest. A clip is still visible (and danceable to say the least) at the bottom of the post Cumbia Galore / Midsummer Manele.

Nigerian Special

2009-10-26T07:05:00.000+01:00

The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination - Amalinja (from Nigeria Special, Soundway 2008)

The last couple of years, since the world's righteous discovering of the late great inventor of Afro Beat, Fela Kuti, record buyers have all of a sudden been blessed with a hefty amount of killer compilations and reissues of vintage African music.

Labels like Strut, Vampisoul, Honest Jon, Soundway, Academy, Buda Musique, Analog Africa and Daptone have been contesting both each other and themselves to dig deeper into the crates to create marvelously colorful packages stuffed with obscurities and extensive liner notes showcasing an seemingly endless variety of musical riches from the enormous continent.

Out of these mighty fine labels I personally have a certain weak spot for Soundway Records, that have been building up an impressive catalogue of mostly African and Latin music. While the fuzz drenched Nigeria Special is perhaps not my favourite of their releases (that would probably be their stunning Colombia! comp, that I've been going on about before here) I have found myself coming back to this particular tune over and over again. It might not strike you initially as an obvious hit but this rather mellow scorcher with it's repetative grooves have proved itself to be a real slow grower.

There is plenty of excellent and streamable radio mixes of vintage African funkiness available all over the web for those willing to dip further into these previously unheard territories, for instance over at the amazing vinyl rescue squad Voodoo Funk.

One of the nicest and most varied playlist that I've heard in a long while is Soundway's head and compiler of Nigeria Special Miles Cleret's own joyful afro mix available here, showcasing music from 11 African countries. Warmly recommended!

Libyan Disco

2009-10-07T23:02:00.004+02:00

Ahmed Fakroun by Jonos Audio

While I honestly speaking have not heard too much Libyan music in my days, I had no idea that the Gaddafi runned dictatorship in the mid 1980's could boast with their own funky version of David Byrne's Talking Heads!

Multiinstrumentalist Ahmed Fakroun musical career started already in the early 1970's after which he had several lenghty recording and performance sejours in England and France. In 1983 his Mots D'Amour album were released including the hit single Soleil Soleil to make his mark in world music circles, combining traditional Arab instruments and melodies with modern electronic music and dance rhythms.

But then came the US aerial bombing of Libya in April 1986, followed by years of international sanctions and isolation, as evidence of terror links turned Libya's government into a pariah of the West and seriously impeded its citizens' freedom of movement and Fakroun's international career plans were effectively put on ice.

In later years however, obscurity-hungry club DJs have rediscovered a couple of his old hits and it has popped up several remixes of Fakroun material from people like Mudd and Les Edits Du Golem. Prince Language's gracefully extended version of Soleil Soleil, renamed Yo Son (available as a Editions Disco 12inch), is in my opinion by far the grooviest of the bunch yet. But then again the original surely stands tall as it is (and reap 120 euro if you happen to find a copy):

Ahmed Fakroun's original recordings can be bought from his official website and thankfully be legally downloaded through CD Baby.

After reading this BBC interview with the man about his newly won promenance I listened through what were for offer and ended up buying a couple of MP3's (swift, safe and easy through PayPal), whereof I really recommend Njoom Al Lyel. Produced in England 1974 by famous BBC Radio producer Tommy Vance, it features some funky flute workouts over a deep groove well worth my 99 cents. Is this perhaps the next of Fakroun's tunes that is up for a remix treatment?

UPDATE as of 28th of February 2011:

Added the original version as well as an additional tune from the Mots D'Amour album thanks to fellow blogger Kefir 80's who have generously made most of the album available. Go visit and give thanks and praise!

I also have plans for further explorations into Fakroun's discography so do keep an eye out if you're interested. Join Jo/No on Facebook to keep updated!

Dubwise Soul Queen

2009-09-29T11:48:00.003+02:00

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - How long do I have to wait? (Ticklah Reggae Remix)

Sharon Jones is a wildly entertaining 50 year old power engine and the most worthy successor to James Brown the world have ever seen. Her band, the Dap-Kings, were the ones who gave Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album that classic 1960's soul feeling, that was such a vital part in that album's appeal and widespread success. Since then, Jones and her gang have started to get some well deserved appreciation in their own right.

While I really enjoy her latest album 100 Days, 100 Nights I dig her earlier, funkier releases even more and this lovely Reggae remix by Ticklah a.k.a Victor Axelrod is of an equally great original culled from her 2005 album Naturally (Daptone Records).

Below is another example of one of her earlier tracks in a non-offical video (?) sporting some awesome dance moves from the fabulous 1970's TV show Soul Train to the sound of "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", released as a seven inch single in 2005 but apparently recorded for a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial already back in 2002 but never used.

And here is the psychedelic original by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, which might strike some readers as familiar as it was featured in the Coen Brothers cult movie The Big Lebowski.

Syria Calling Pt.2

2009-09-23T07:08:00.000+02:00

Gaida Hinnawi - Almaya (from Levantine Indulgence, 2009)

Returning to Syria, well this girl might feel more at home in a jazzy loft downtown New York as a matter of fact, but she is still obviously coloured by her native roots in Syria and of traditional Arabic folk songs. I just love the rolling drum beat (that reminds me vaguely of the popular handclap driven Diwali riddim a couple of years back) and the hushed trumpet solo towards the end.

Compared with my previous post of Syrian music though, Gaida Hinnawi surely has a more sofisticated and polished appearance a looong way from Sublime Frequencies affiliated roughneck Omar Souleyman's contemporary output.

I discovered this sweet and hummable tune earlier this year at the collective Aurgasm blog, which often is a great place to discover new talents of a rather easy digestable nature.

The always intruiging record label Sublime Frequencies has apart from the two intense albums by Mr Souleyman also released an interesting double CD entitled I Remember Syria that the label describes as an:

"...expose of music, news, interviews and field recordings from one of the least-known quarters of the Arab world. The country of Syria has been politically and culturally exiled for decades by the western media leaving little known of its rich heritage of art, music and culture. Recorded and surgically-assembled by Mark Gergis from two trips to Syria in 1998 and 2000, disc one of this 2-CD set features recordings made in Damascus and is a virtual documentary of sound from the legendary Capital including street scenes, a wedding, a mosque interior, spontaneous live music and interviews with citizens, radio broadcasts, a song about Saddam Hussein, and the mystery of an underground city called "Kazib". Disc two extends to Greater syria with the same approach capturing live musicians, political opinions, radio excerpts, an interview with an anonymous homosexual, and unique sound documents from this small but highly-influential corner of the Middle East."

Reggae Longing

2009-09-20T19:20:00.000+02:00

John Holt & The Aggrovators – You’ll never find another love like mine (12inch mix)
Jackie Mittoo – You’ll never find

More lazy Sunday favorites; a slick lovers tune extended in a disco dub style plus an instrumental keyboard version to follow. None of these players might need much of an introduction and production team Sly & Robbie are apparently involved in this versioning of R&B singer Lou Rawls 1976 original.

Organ player Jackie Mittoo is truly a defining figure of Reggae music; from forming the Skatalites at the age of 15 to his work as in-house writer, arranger and producer at Jamaica’s finest record label, Studio One, during the sixties to his own recordings.

If you give a listen to any Jamaican music from late 1960's chances are big that Mittoo has worked his warm handed magic on it in one way or another. Or for that matter much later Jamaican music too, as versioning and reinvention of classic rhythms is the back bone of most Jamaican music styles, and Mittoo's rhythms has been re-used more than most.

I don’t know if these particular versions are currently available on re-press, Mittoo's version is at least not available on any of the more widely distributed titles of his (for instance it's not included on the otherwise recommendable album pictured above) that I own or know of. I however scored them over at covers concerned Versions Galore last summer.

The groovy Juice Box, on the other hand, is included on Universal Sound's brilliant carreer sum-up, The Keyboard King at Studio One. Recommended to everyone who wants a little summer feeling in their lives all year around!

Django Fever

2009-09-13T17:04:00.001+02:00

Django Reinhardt et Stéphane Grappelly - Vous qui passez sans me voir (1930's?)

I've been waking up every morning for the last 8 months to this adorable ditty, as it has been the alarm buzzer on my cell phone, and even though it marks the moment when I have to drag myself out of bed I haven't got fed up with it yet?! That's what I call a mighty feel good tune! Also, it works just fine to stroll around at home to on a lazy sunday afternoon while making lingonberry jam, which have been my main occupation of today.

Gypsy guitarist extraordinaire, Django Reinhardt, is caricatured above (and below) in the animated motion picture Les triplettes de Belleville (2003), a fantastic film that I most wholeheartedly recommend to everyone to see. In case you're wondering about his left fingers, Django lost two of them in a fire at the age of 18, but despite his handicap he succeeded to become the biggest pre-war jazz guitar legend of all.

I've spent most of my Sunday spinning old and joyful vinyls by the Boswell Singers, Slim & Slam and the Flat Foot Floogie Boys and, my favourite blues singer, Josh White. I also been rediscovering my old favourite blogger Dr. Auratheft's Blues Gitane radio mix, featuring Django and other French 1930's Gypsy, Musette and Cajun artists.

The Doctor recently decided to retire his blog after 5 years and 250 radio shows and he will be sorely missed. I recommend any music fiend to do yourself a favor and plunge into his vast catalogue while it's still available online!

Coastal Jazz

2009-09-09T23:02:00.000+02:00

Staffan Abeleen & Lars Färnlöf - Fin sikt över havet (1965)

Here is some melodious Swedish mid-60's jazz in order to keep that summery feeling stay a little longer. This is from the same period as Färnlöf composed the score for Hasse & Tage's classic movie Att angöra en brygga (also on the coastal theme, as the titles translates "Nice view over the sea" and "To enter a pier").

I feel that this track resemblance something of a Swedish version of John Coltrane's My favourite things, as it also reminds me of a another One for Trane by Naosuke Miyamoto (that I posted previously here), and I just love to play all of these three in a row!

Fin sikt över havet is currently available on Quintets 1961-1966 (Dragon) and is also featured on Jet Set Junta's Friendly Waves, a compilation of maritime inspired songs put together by the Friendly Noise crew in anticipation of their household artist Testbild!'s latest album Aquatint earlier this year.

On the same theme, I might add that Testbild! have made a nice cover version of the Abeleen/Färnlöf affiliated singstar Monica Zetterlund's end-of-summer hymn En gång i Stockholm, that I included on my P as in Pop! J as in Jazz! compilation last year, still listenable as well downloadable here (after over 250 downloads so far = my most popular comp yet?).

Balinese Butterflies

2009-09-04T08:00:00.000+02:00

Finn Peters - Atlas (from Butterflies, Accidental 2008)

Matthew Herbert has for long been a man to keep an eye on, always coming up with intriguing genre-defying projects and artful musical experiments that not only triggers your feets but also your brain.

Besides producing modern classics as Bodily Functions, Cafe de Flour (as Doctor Rockit) and the more recent Plat du jour in his own name he is also curating his own record label, Accidental, that have given the world two of my personal favourite albums of later years; Max De Wardener's brilliant (and Moondog-inspired) Where I Am Today and songbird Mara Carlyle's The Lovely.

British flutist and saxophonist Finn Peters is one of the latest finds from this label's varied output. His second full-lenght in his own name is said to be inspired by the man's interest in Asian philosophy and the ceremonial Balinese Bird and Butterfly Dance. This become audibly in the joyful Atlas as well as in the title tune where gamelan drumming is graciously incorporated and bring back memories of my trip to Cambodia last winter where similar rhythms occasionally were heard. At other times this well composed album uses (a tiny bit of) electronic tricks but still manage to sound impressingly timeless and might appeal to devotees of library cult hero Basil Kirchin.

Kora Knights

2009-08-31T01:59:00.004+02:00

Toubab Krewe - Djarabi by Jonos Audio

One of this summer's several canoe trips of mine was accompanied by the instrumental quintet Toubab Krewe, whose self titled debut was pouring out through my lousy mobile phone speakers during me and my brother's relaxed journey through Katrineholm's scenic lake system.

This group's sound is distinctly flavoured with West-African musical traditions, especially those of the 21-string instrument Kora, made famous by world renowned griots as Mali's Toumani Diabaté. Out of the genuineness of their music I actually took for granted that they were at least African emigrants but it was not until preparing this post that I learned that not a single member of the band was of African heritage but in fact all from the North Carolina's Appalachian mountains! Instead of picking up the banjo they just had went for the Kora.

My brother instantly fell in love with this particular tune, Djarabi, and is convinced that one after 2:15 minutes can hear an interpretation of the theme song to his beloved (as geeky) TV-series Knight Rider (from 1983, starring David Hasselhoff)! Needless to say he has begged me to share it ever since.

Apparently, Toubab Krewe has just gone about and released a new critically acclaimed album, Live at the Orange Peel (Upstream Records), that I look forward to track down as well as catching them live IRL after seeing this energetic performance:

Soaking South African Jazz

2009-08-24T17:27:00.000+02:00

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath - The Bride (1971)

One of my most frequently played records this summer is probably this LP that I found soaking wet at a fleamarket out in the countryside about a month ago while out to pick some blueberries. Luckily, the actual record was not as damaged as its envelope.

McGregor was born and raised in South Africa's Cape Town in a family of Scottish missionaries. Being brought up on church hymns and Xhosa dances he developed an interest in the Black Jazz scene and started playing the piano. After a few releases with the Blue Notes he moved to Europe in the late 1960's to form this group and release a number of highly sought after spiritual jazz albums, including this one. I just can't stop listen to the first side here, that starts and ends with two mesmerisingly storming bangers, whereof this is the latter one.

In the latest edition (#306) of British music magazine The Wire (sporting 'the human record crate' Madlib on the cover) Rob Young ranks this particular LP among the crown jewels of visionary British jazz and also provides a delicate and streamable playlist of a few handpicked examples as well as the nifty illustration I've borrowed and cropped above (and which most likely not depicts pianist McGregor himself btw.).

UPDATE as of December 2011:

It appears as the DL link above stopped functioning. I may occasionally dig out the original source and re-upload but until then you may as well shop around elsewhere as I notice the album nowadays is available at a few places.

I recommend the explosive opening cut Mra which McGregor also recorded a few years prior to this album's 1971 release together with Gwigwi Mrwebi and Dudu Pukwana (both on alto saxophones) in 1967. Both versions are available on youtube:

Falafel Habibi

2009-08-20T09:39:00.000+02:00

The Sabras - Falafel

God knows I've eaten plenty of falafel's in my days, being the veggie option no.1 when it comes to fast food around here. After a year in Sweden's superior falafel capital Malmoe though, the pita's up here in Stockholm have not appeared as tasty as they used to...

This mixed Israeli-American surf combo from the late 1960's gives the delicious chickpea dish the tribute it deserves!

In every country the story is that there is a dish that everybody eats. Italians have their pizza-pie. In china there is tea and rice. […] But we have our falafel, fa-la-a-a-fel, fa-la-a-a-fel!

As so many times before one have to thank WFMU's Beware of the Blog for digging up such peculiar finds. Their Mining the Audio Motherload postings of interesting albums from all around the blogosphere is constantly delivering rare and joyful treats.

Latino Delights Vol.2

2009-08-13T16:41:00.000+02:00

Damas y caballeros! Finally, it’s time again for more flamboyant boogaloo, descarga drumming, cumbia galore and other charming Latin peculiarities in the second instalment of Señor Jo/No’s Latino Delights!

As with the first selection of Latino Delights, compiled from the finds of a trip to Peru back in 2007 (still up for grab here), what’s for offer this time around is another varied hot-pot of styles and genre’s with merely two things in common. Firstly, they’re all of somewhat Latino heritage in one way or another, some just by inspiration. Secondly, they all appeal to me by simply being a bunch of total scorchers!

A few contemporary pieces managed to make their way into the playlist among a majority of groovy old school cats. Many of these nuggets are stuff that I’ll wish to thank inspiring bloggers such as Kikin Bakk's Musica del Alma, Global Groove, Mudd Up, Soul Sides and Captain's Crate for digging up.

The introducing drum wizard Ray Baretto’s Acid, on the other hand, were actually one of the first tunes that drove me to develop an interest in Latin music in the first place. I remember being totally enchanted by it at once after purchasing Barely Breakin Even’s Latin Spectrum compilation back in that label’s heydays around the millennium mark, when they were spoiling us beat thirsty with several brilliant rare groove compilations.

Eventually I’ve lost track of BBE’s output for a few years but lately they’ve resurfaced on my radar after a couple of interestingly eclectic compilations like Strange Breaks & Mr Thing and The Grandfather Paradox. Also, I just realised that they have ridiculously good prices in their own web shop, where even their brand new CD releases can be bought for as little as 3-4 £! (This might be just a temporary sale, so one better act now...)

Anyway, please do yourself a favour and tie your dancing shoes hard while downloading your own digital copy of Jo/No’s Latino Delights Vol.2 as a 80 mb zipfile of mp3's. Enjoy!

http://sharebee.com/3f6c2d97

And in case you're wondering who the handsome fruit vendors on the cover is I can tell you it's Cuba's finest, Orchestra Aragon (track #4 on this comp), that some 50 years after this picture where shot recently visited and played in my hometown Stockholm. Still going strong! (Moral of the story: Eat more fruit, youngsters!)

Libido Blues

2009-07-21T18:29:00.001+02:00

Sabu Martinez - Libido Blues (from In Orbit, 1960)

I can't resist to post yet another groovy teaser from my upcoming Latino compilation.

Afro-Cuban Conga percussionist Sabu Martinez spent a few years in Sweden in the 1970's, where he produced some classic albums such as Afro Temple, which remains an highly sought after trophy among crate diggers the world over. Recently a couple of his other (and sadly final, as he passed away in 1978) sessions at the Swedish National Radio were re-issued by Mellotronen, that I have yet to hear.

This sweet and jazzy track shared today however dates from an earlier session much prior to his days in exile (and is not included on the album pictured above). It has more of a easy listening character than the virtuosic drum frenzy he is perhaps more known of cooking up, but with plenty of the groove that was his signum. I just love this little charming piece!

Señor Jo/No's second installment of Latino Delights is now available for download HERE.

The first volume of my Latino Delights, picked up during a trip to Peru, is still available HERE.

Tropical Swing

2009-07-20T17:55:00.000+02:00

Quantic & Nickodemus feat. Tempo & The Candela Allstars - Mi Swing Es Tropical (2005)

I'll keep the summer favourites coming. Here is another that always gets my mood in tropical order. At first, I found this one a bit kitschy but the years proved me wrong and I still find it rather impossible to not start moving those hips upon listening.

Quantic and Nickodemus are two mighty fine producers and beat smiths that both are collecting inspiration from all over the world in their respective carriers, always on the look out for new collaborators. On Nickodemus new album "Sun People" he among others are joined by Balkan brass band Taraf de Haidouks, and Quantic, that in 2007 relocated himself to Colombia, have lately been working with both Peruvian master pianist Alfredo Linares and revered Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai.

Hopefully anytime soon I'll be back with a second volume of Latino Delights, that will include this lovely party tune as well as another 20. In the meantime you are still welcome to feast on my old compilation of Latin music that I brought home from my trip to Peru a couple of years back, still both listenable as well as downloadable here.

Ska Sauvito

2009-07-18T15:41:00.000+02:00

Tommy McCook & The Skatalites – Sauvitt (1964)

Here is an early Ska stomper from the mid 1960’s that never wears out. A Jamaican version of an original number from Latino percussionist Mongo Santamaria, Sauvito, that gets your dancing shoes on in no time!

I’ve previously featured this all time favourite on my feel good compilation Lose your blues and laugh at life last summer (still downloadable here)

Juju Summer

2009-07-13T16:21:00.000+02:00

King Sunny Adé & his African Beats - Ma Jaiye Oni (from Juju Music, Island 1982)

More warm summer music in the form of Nigeria's Juju maestro, King Sunny Adé. I was lucky enough to find this album on vinyl in the shelf at my local record store just around the corner a while ago and was hooked from the first moment.

Adé and his 20 members strong entourage are jamming away in characteristic and easygoing, but deeply layered, Juju style (where songs are often much longer than this one) with groovy wah-wah and Hawaiian guitars as well as dubby reggae rhythms and bubbling synthesiser slabs over Adé's sweet crooning vocals.

This record, his first on a major label, was the introduction to western ears of Adé as well as the Juju music of Nigerias biggest tribe Yoruba. After Bob Marley's untimely death in 1981 Island tried to crown Adé the African Marley, but he never reach the same success around this parts as in his homeland where his records, well over 120 releases and counting, could sell some 200.000 copies alone.

Few of Adé's earlier albums have been re-released but at least a couple of them are floating around in the blogoon for digital consumption, as are this one, for example from my favourite provider of African quality music, hard-working Global Groove, or the equally recommendable Babe(b)logue.