Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 65 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Because the coal dust makes his complexion kinda dusky, the Miner is going to steer clear of Arizona for a while, lest the Federales there mistake him for being an Un-American. And who could blame them? What, with all that foreign music he peddles...

Maybe it's time to organize a cultural boycott of Arizona. To get you in the spirit, here's an all-too-apt blast from the racist past: Let Me See Your I.D. (MP3) (Artists United Against Apartheid)

Ignace de Souza & Melody Aces  ~  "Favourite Melodies"
(Blog: Electric Jive)
From the album: Asaw Fofor (mp3)

Just Like We Did Last Summer...in Benin
According to a citation on Matt Yanchyshyn's terrific blog Benn Loxo du Taccu, singer/trumpeter Ignace de Souza was the first ever performer of afrobeat. Matt is referring to liner notes by the late John Storm Roberts who released a reissue of this amazing West African twist and soul on his sorely missed Original Music label.

Mike Tingley  ~  "The Abstract Prince"
(Blog: Fantasy)

Pop Goes the Oboes and Harpsichords
Californian Mike Tingley traveled to Holland in 1969 to record this his lone LP, an immensely pleasing collection of semi-mystical peace-and-love and "message" songs (check the anti-war title track) buffeted by trippy orchestral pop arrangements. Notable lyric: "I don't believe in God, his words are all in vain, his hands are made of rubber and his face is cellophane."

Dudu Pukwana & Spear  ~  "Flute Music"
(Blog: Exile on Moan Street)

Liberation Music
I always loved that Dudu Pukwana, the South African ex-pat saxophone genius, named his '70s working band Spear—a sly reference, no doubt, to Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the military wing of the African National Congress. This burner from 1975 pairs Dudu with trumpeter and fellow Blue Notes frontliner Mongezi Feza.

Miguel de Deus  ~  "Black Soul Brothers"
(Blog: Mongoloid)
From the album: Pode Se Queimar (mp3)

Irmãos Can Work It Out
The singers on this deep soul outing from Brazil's Miguel De Deus deliver more laughing than lyrics, but no mind—it's all about the funk. On the scene since the '60s as a member of Os Brasoes and Assim e Assado, Miguel's greatest contribution, before this solo effort was as leading the backing band behind Gal Costa on her legendary self-titled album from 1969.

Gert Thrue  ~  "Sound Painted Pictures of Cosmic Love"
(Blog: The Growing Bin)

In the Moog for Love
Not nearly as epic as the cover art (or title) suggests, this LP of Tangerine Dream-y organ noodling is a more than pleasant way to spend 39 minutes. Not much is known about the two drummers here (Jan Preus on Side A and Per Hoyer on Side B), but there's even less info available on Danish keyboardist Gert Thrue, who probably earned less from the entire pressing of this record back in 1977 than the inflated price of any recent copy sold on eBay.

Tom Shaw  ~  "Blind Lemon's Buddy"
(Blog: Hard Luck Child's Juke Joint)
From the album: Stop in the Valley (mp3)

His Recording Debut at 64!
By the time he left East Texas for San Diego in 1934, at the age of 26, Thomas Shaw had set on countless porches steeping in the heady artistry of area bluesmen, J.T. "Funny Papa" Smith, Mance Lipscomb, and "Father of Texas Blues" Blind Lemon Jefferson. It was Jefferson who first recommend to a 12-year-old Shaw that he save up and buy a guitar. By all accounts, it was the best $8 he ever spent.

Listen for music from these and other incredible finds on
Give the Drummer Some, Fridays on WFMU, 9 to Noon (ET).

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

Comments

[Biko/Zapata]

Thanks for drawing the connection, and for all your work in pulling these posts together! With all the rhetoric about the encroaching federal government, it would be interesting to compare the imaginative siege hysteria of Arizona's white nativists with the history of South Africa's Boers. I predict this question will sharpen further in coming years, and Arizona may prove to be the next flashpoint for grassroots freedom struggles in the U.S. as Mississippi was for SNCC in the 1960's.

[Robt Seda-Schreiber]

How can one not blast PE's "By The Time I Get To Arizona" out the car windows whilst driving through the Grand Canyon state, not stopping at all, & certainly not dropping any cash there whatsoever?!

[El Lobo]

Hey Doug, I don't know what kind of troubles you have in NJ with illegal immigration, but here in AZ, man, I gotta tell you it's BAD. It's not the guys coming over for work, but instead some serious badasses--they're killing people here, and it's all about drugs. And forever, nobody has done a damn thing--the feds are no help whatsoever. Just some poor under armed, underfunded, short staffed Border Patrol guys trying to keep their heads above water. And these illegal dudes just laugh at us--bring in less than 500 pounds of marijuana and you're not even charged--they just give you a bottle of water and a bus ride back to the border. Try getting stopped with 500 pounds of weed in NJ and see what happens to you. I'm as liberal as a Democrat comes, and I'd love to see President Obama reelected, and I'll vote for him again, but the Democrats are just missing the point here, and in the process antagonizing a lot of their common sense supporters. The fact that some polls say close to 70% of people here support the legislation should tell you something. I think Biko/Zapata is right--Arizona may be the next flashpoint, but not the flashpoint he is hoping for. Oh, and I love your drummer posts--every single one of them is brilliant. Thanks for the space to vent a little. Back to the music...

[Doug Schulkind]

Señor Lobo,
I haven't heard anyone criticizing SB 1070 deny that there is a problem with bad guys who happen to be in this country illegally. But are you really trying to defend this particlar approach to addressing the problem?

[Quizmasterchris]

El Lobo - (Nice name by the way, very anglo.) When did Obama or the Democrats become "liberal?" What "liberal" thing have they done? The illegal wars or the larger-than-Bush military budget or the Wall St bailout or forcing people to buy corporate medical insurance or letting Bush and Cheney off the hook or keeping Guantanamo open or supressing Iraq photos ..?

The fact that you're for this AZ ID crap and declare yourself liberal and pro-Democrat just tells us how worse-than-useless the Democrats are, and how meaningless support for those awful candidates is. I believe that you are "as liberal as a Democrat comes", which is to say center-right.

I'm still wondering how low the Democrats and Obama have to go for people to reach any form of breaking point.

[iyjl]

Fantasy can be fun. But as someone who grew up in a border state (with the largest undocumented immigrant population in the country) and a border town, I think that Lobo's being more than a little hysterical about the amount of "badasses" pouring in to the United States, compared to the rest of the undocumented population and unrealistic about what kind of impact SB 1070 would have on the drug economy.

Further criminalizing this population reinforces the precarious conditions in which they are living, in addition to expanding the militarization of public space under the rhetoric of "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear". How this will translate into everyday life for people who were not born with white skin is the systematic suspicion of the presence of brown bodies arbitrarily enforced by an overextended police force with little knowledge or respect for the nuance of civil codes. Anybody who has been detained by an overzealous police officer knows exactly how how much there is to fear about such an encounter.

Meanwhile, employers big and small that are so celebrated for driving our economic recovery will have a new weapon to wield against a labor force they've long exploited based on the circumstance of their legal status. This will not open new jobs for American workers, just as it hasn't in the Southeast of this country in the manufacturing, custodial or agricultural sectors where ICE raids have become increasingly commonplace as a weapon against unionization. Instead it has ensured that communities live in fear of police terror and being torn apart by detention and deportation - wages continue to decrease, and more "legal" workers find themselves obsolete in an economy with no ethical imperative, social obligation or respect for the borders some folks seem to treasure so much.

Keep on worrying about these rabid killers, Lobo!

[El Lobo]

Iyil--I appreciate your comments. You probably know who Rob Krentz is. If not, Google him. That's what SB 1070 is about.

[Chuck D]

Yes, I am aware. The exception that defines the rule.

http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/character-87020-climate-death.html
"Americans shouldn’t have to live like this,"

... and to make sure it doesn't happen again, let's be sure to keep a watchful eye on anyone who isn't white.

[El Lobo]

Chuck, It's not really the exception anymore. More like the proverbial final straw. Doug, if you have time, read this article from the San Fransisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/29/EDA41D700U.DTL

Written by a republican state senator, true, but pay special notice to the testimony of the ranchers. It's not fantasy like iyil claims.
By the way, diggin' the Tom Shaw link. Thanks.

[Holly]

Thanks a bunch for the Miguel de Deus! I can't wait to check the rest of the album.

[Arlo]

"This will not open new jobs for American workers"

Yes, it will. From those right wing fanatics at NPR:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/globalpoolofmoney/2008/08/after_immigration_raid_locals.html

Its a pleasure to disprove just one of the many inaccuracies and lies from your post.