Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere
As we embrace the mad cacaphony of 2011, I am thrilled to continue cliff-diving into the ocean of free online music with you as I begin a third year of Mining the Audio Motherlode. (You can scroll back through all of my old columns via this link.)
Often the last person in my zip code to embrace new technology, I limped along online with a gerbil-powered dial-up connection for years—never even sniffing an MP3, let alone downloading one—until finally switching over to a high-speed cable modem in 2008. Then, with the ever-proliferating landscape of full-album-sharing blogs suddenly traversable, I started a mad dash that continues to this day, monitoring many hundreds of amazing sites daily for each new offering of sonic splendor. Mining the Audio Motherlode bears the fruit of this pursuit, yanking the branches down low for ravenous plucking.
In this week's bushel: (1) A brilliant Brazilian iconoclast's early bossa deconstruction; (2) a studioful of Swedish avant savants creating epiphanic mayhem; (3) the complete 30-volume set (wow!) of Boppin' Hillbilly comps; (4) sweet ditties from a Tennessee rambler who wound up in Alaska; and (5) a collection of somewhat creepy, totally compelling soundtrack-like pseudo-jazz audio explorations made by an coterie of Italian session musicians.
Dive head first...
Jocy de Oliveira ~ "A Música do Século XX"
(Blog: Mundo Estranho De PB)
ExperiMental Bossa
"When I discovered that this album existed was in despair. I am a fanatic for the work especially of composers of contemporary music and avant-garde Brazilian 60s and 70s. It was a big fan of the work of Jocy, but never could imagine that she had flirted with popular music on disc. Can not remember where did I hear talk of that work ... Logo sought a collector who had a copy on cdr that graced me with a copy. Later, I befriended a great researcher of exotic music, obscure, avant-garde, revolutionary and bizarre world. A true expert who now have as my teacher. YUPO TOZUKA. He had nothing more and nothing less than six copies on vinyl this pearl, which kept the order to pass for true connoisseurs of the work of Jocy. Feared see this disc set as a mere curiosity in derogatory Japanese catalogs." (Paulo Beto at Mundo Estranho PB)
G.L. Unit ~ "Orangutang!"
(Blog: Ezhevika Fields)
(Oran) Gu Tang Clan!
"Heralded by chirpy field recordings that are later mimicked by clarinets, flutes and soprano saxophone, "Waves" lets an easy swing grow out of heaps of dissonance, reveling in the incongruity of straight-time rhythm, chordal comping and continuous commentary from flutes, tambourines, cello, and reeds. Lindquist's post-Coltrane tenor has a burnished keening sound, providing a deep gutbucket bottom to what might otherwise be a top-heavy, high-pitched ensemble. Segments seem like snapshots from a larger whole, snippets of unison lines from trumpeters Peter Hennix and Torsten Eckerman ringing bell-clear while a chorus of yells and a rhythm section trying to find its footing tug melody into the morass. Norlén and pianist Allan Wajda lean towards post-bop, in the face of folksong skronk from Nordstrom's alto and bassists and drummers following the saxophonists' cue. A brief singsong theme and a Cherry-esque fragment emerge only to be buried by seashore sounds. The title track is the most massive of the set, Lindquist doling out repetitious tenor honks to fill out the ensemble as Spångberg thrashes around." (Clifford Allen from Paris Transatlantic)
Various ~ "Boppin' Hillbilly"
(Blog: Western & Bop)
Worth the Effort
Volumes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
Jimmy Simpson ~ "The Oilfield Boy Sings Kiana Kid and Other Favorites"
(Blog: Time Has Told Me)
Just Jimmy from Juneau
"A big man, six feet tall, Jimmy had definite stage presence and a gift of gab that enabled him to enjoy a side-career as a disc-jockey for most of the fifties and early sixties. His records were released on an array of small labels that continue to fascinate collectors – Republic, Hidus, Jiffy, Big State, Caprock, and his own Sourdough – but included a brief run with Starday as well. Along the way he managed to get in appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, the Louisiana Hayride, and the Big ‘D’ Jamboree, with a wide array of country music characters, musicians, songwriters and disc jockeys : Jim Denny, Jack Rhodes, Harlan Howard, Slim Willet, Hank Harral, Tillman Franks, Willie Nelson, and Don Pierce, to name a few." (Xavier from Bopping.org)
Tony Iglio ~ "Drug Store"
(Blog: Mondo Ribelle)
Say Yes to Drug Store
"Unknown Library LP by Iglio and his band. Full of weird exploito-psych-jazz, Ive never come across this artist or label, must be his only release I reckon. Anyway, it's rare, it looks great and it sounds wild." (Anonymous commenter at iueke.com)
Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays 6-7pm, on WFMU and Fridays 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
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Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode
Here's a couple worth adding.
Unknown from Morocco
http://palm-wine.blogspot.com/2010/12/lambrate-where-streets-have-no-name.html
Kung Foo funk
http://www.blaxploitationpride.org/2008/03/joseph-koo-big-boss-1971.html
Posted by: icastico | January 06, 2011 at 02:26 AM