Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere
First, big ups to the many generous readers who stepped up and gave a little something back in support of these weekly Motherlodes during WFMU's annual fundraising marathon. Biggest cheers for Holly in NC, who made a significant contribution to the station and Beware of the blog and "adopted" your faithful Miner for the next year.
And while you're applauding, how about a round for blogger Gary Sullivan, who found time—along with continuing to share marvel after pleasurable marvel at Bodega Pop (see the lead item, below)—to write two critical observations of the post-Megaupload blog tumult. The first, his cathartic rant Guilty Until Proven Innocent?, is required reading for those trying to make sense of the scorched-earth tactics of those seeking to extinguish online music sharing—free, legal and otherwise. The other is a piece published in the latest edition of The Brooklyn Rail. Titled Vanishing Point: Will the RIAA and MPAA Wipe International Music Off the Globe?, it includes some words from me regarding the late, lamented Holy Warbles.
Selda Bağcan ~ Türkülerimiz 6
(Blog: Bodega Pop)
Mos Def Sampled Her (w/o permission)
"Belting out radical poetry with heart-wrenching conviction, Turkish folkie-cum-siren of psychedelia Selda Bağcan has endured imprisonment, banning, restricted travel and other indignities, all for love of rocking the paranoid authorities. Istanbul in the 1970s was, for legions of Anatolian space cadets, the primo launching pad for the taking the mother of all acid trips. And in a world of progressive music dominated by men, Selda was the mother of Turkey's countercultural revolution. This release, originally from 1976, finds Selda amid a din of flanging, fuzzed-out guitars, crooning lines like "The sweat of the working-class amalgamates with the soil."" (Description from my own Favorites of 2006 page)
Ahmed Abdul-Malik ~ The Eastern Moods of… & Spellbound
(Blog: Sun Ship)
Oud to the Last Drop
"Apologies (in advance) for the profanity but this side is a motherfucker. I posted Ahmed Abdul Malik's Spellbound last year—and now here's The Eastern Moods of…! This is one of my personal holy grails of jazz vinyl collecting—long sought after by collectors, it would be an understatement to say that this side is rare. In any event it's not a conventional jazz side either, but a riveting experiment in proto-world music c. 1963." (Comments by PrestonTW, at Sun Ship)
Michi Sarmiento y Su Combo Bravo ~ Salsa Con Monte
(Blog: Mi-Melodia)
Michi Gone!
"Along with infectious dance porros and cumbias, Michi y Sus Bravos specialized in rumbling guaguancós, descargas and hot covers of early salsa and boogaloo hits. Michi’s LPs on Discos Fuentes, brilliantly produced and recorded by Mario ‘Pachanga’ Rincón, were packed with fast-paced dancefloor burners featuring pumping bass, insistent montunos, sax solos and nasty metallic percussion." (Description from Soundway Records)
[None of the tracks on this LP are included on the spectacular Aqui Los Bravos compilaton from Soundway. If you dig this, be sure to pick up the Soundway disc.]
Ton Steine Scherben ~ Wenn die Nacht Am Tiefsten…
(Blog: Mutant Sounds)
Post-Squatter Grooviness
"Fairly stunning Polit-rock mongering from these NWW listed Krautrockers who operated in the grand German tradition of Checkpoint Charlie, Floh De Cologne and Kollektiv Rote Rube. Not understanding a word of German is surely hindering a deeper appreciation of it's contents for me, though there's so much else here to revel in that you'll scarcely feel deprived, with this double album of theirs featuring perhaps their most musically advanced output extant. Some really stunning and wide ranging probings here, that cover the gamut from brusque and snarling hard-rockish bits akin to later Checkpoint Charlie to more fluidly krautrockin' material whose level of musical development and innovation sometimes warrant comparisons to Embryo and Amon Duul 2." (Description by Vdoandsound, at Mutant Sounds)
The Thai Orchestra ~ Tho-Ra-Nee-Kan-Saeng
(Blog: Brain Goreng)
Slave to the Music
"...I have no idea how the history of Thai slavery relates to the music on this tape (if directly at all) but after a number of listens I have to say that the overall vibe of sorrow and grief seems perfectly fitting. The instrumental title track that takes up all of side A is an epic in mournful form cycles. The B side is also all instrumental, containing a half-dozen tracks that further evoke the heavy feelings. I'd say 'enjoy!' but it's not quite appropriate... so, here you go." (From a description on the Japan acid folk pages at Psychemusic.org)
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