Self-released – none
Friday, December 18, 2020
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Don Cherry - (1972) Organic Music Society
Caprice Records – CAP 21827
Absolutely stunning, super rare deep, deep spiritual jazz album from Don
Cherry. This has to be up there with our all time best records ever
(yes its good). Recorded in 1972 in Sweden, this record is perhaps the
first ever 'world' music record - a subtle, organic fusion of sounds
that really is out there on its own for grooviness. This record is
released here for the first time in 40 years by the Swedish state record
label Caprice. It is done with love and we want to spread that love to
you too.
Cosmic, spiritual, deep, amazing!
Don Cherry - (2020) Om Shanti Om
Black Sweat Records – BS058
An amazing document of the life experiment that was the Organic Music Society. This super quality audio, recorded by RAI (the italian public broadcasting company) in 1976 for television, documents a quartet concert focused on vocals compositions and improvisations. Here, Don Cherry and his family-community’s musical belief emerges in its simplicity, with the desire to merge the knowledge and stimuli gained during numerous travels across the World in a single sound experience. Don's pocket-trumpet is melted with the beats of the great Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, the Italian guitar of Gian Piero Pramaggiore, and the tanpura drone of Moki. A pure hippie aesthetic, like in an intimate ceremony, filters a magical encounter between Eastern and Western civiliziations, offering different suggestions of sound mysticism: natural acoustics in which individual instruments and voices are part of a wider pan-tribal consciousness. A desert Western landscape marries Asian and Latin atmospheres. Indigenous contributions with berimbau explorations find fossil sounds of rattles and clap-hands invocations. Influences of Indian mantra singing are combined with eternal African voices or with folkish-Latin guitar rhythms , while flute and drums evoke distant dances. In the Organic Music everything becomes an act of devotion and love, an ecstatic dwell in the dimension of a sacred free-rejoice.
VA - (2020) Cha-Cha Au Harem Orientica - France 1960-1964 CD
Born Bad Records – BB136
In 1963, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars. Launching its
actors to stardom, including Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif who played
Prince Ali Ibn Kharish at the age of thirty. The latter incarnated the
West’s vision of the Middle East which was simultaneously elusive,
refined and elegant. His fiery stare, impeccable mustache and immaculate
haircut had something to do with it: the Egyptian actor was a sex
symbol of an era passionate for James Bond and OSS117 spy adventures. In
the Jordinian desert, he fascinated an audience that was in search of
an escape and the thousand and one nights. This appetite for a colorful
and fantasized exoticism, was also prominent in France’s music of the
sixties. The country that welcomed Omar Sharif's first feature films
outside of Egypt (Goha, La Châtelaine du Liban) produced a delirious
amount of music of Latin or Middle Eastern inspiration, grouped behind
the genre named “typical” .
This “typical” production is enough to scare away the most motivated and
adventurous of listeners: overabundant and often blurry versions,
anonymous performers (often accompanied by the same arrangers) and only a
few noteworthy songs. Venturing into the moving waters of orchestral
music undoubtedly causes disappointment, but here and there, springing
up in the middle of a vast ocean, one can find a few cha-cha-cha pearls
played in a Cuban or Middle Eastern style. The French equivalent of
Exotica records (Les Baxter, Yma Sumac, Martin Denny etc.) for North
Americans who were fantasizing about Hawaiian Tikis and the Pacific
Islands, the oriental cha-cha-cha fueled dreams of the Middle East and
Northern Africa. To rum-based cocktails sipped in a Polynesian setting,
the French were to prefer couscous and mint tea. Carrying them across
the Mediterranean to nearby Maghreb and even further on to the more
mysterious Anatolia. Orientica in short.
The context is somewhat paradoxical: decolonization, especially of the
Maghreb was not an exactly smooth process. After Morocco and Tunisia in
1956, Algeria acquired its independence in 1962, leaving a gaping wound,
still partly open, on both sides of the Mediterranean. Pied-noirs
returning to the regions of Paris and Provence with a mixed culture
(dishes, humor, etc.). The Cuban missile crisis took place that same
year, a paroxysmal moment in the Cold War. Europe was split between two
camps. “When will the Russians throw nuclear warheads at us”? But there
was also reason to rejoice and be optimistic: the economic growth and
baby boom. Reconstruction was in full swing. French families were
dreaming of tourism and airplanes. A method of transportation that was
still reserved for the elite was developing rapidly. The French sky had
been opened to competition. Caravels, the first mass produced civilian
twin-jet planes had entered the airspace. The French were discovering
Italy, Spain by car and starting to dream of far more distant regions.
Records thus offered the average person an easy escape with an extra few
puns in there and a little ole-ole, making the product all the more
attractive. On Saturdays, young adults took part in ballroom dance
parties (dancing the cha-cha-cha, bolero, foxtrot, tango), although
physical distances were chaste the spirits were more mischievous than
they appeared. Sundays were then spent at the airport, listening to the
Boeings chanter là-haut (Boeings singing in sky). The Loukoum - Cha Cha
au Harem compilation offers a tender vision of pre-sexual revolution
Gaullian France. Including all the stereotypes on exotic countries;
culinary specialties (couscous, Turkish coffee, baklava, etc.), sensual
oriental dances, exaggerated accents, bewitching chants performed on
minor Hungarian scales by European instruments accompanied by percussion
of an unknown origin.
Aside from being a simple postcard, this music embodied a form of
innocence and naiveté, both touching elements to access in these cynical
and judgmental times. Catchy and tastefully arranged, the genre’s best
tunes contain a delightfully old-fashioned charm. Bob Azzam, an Egyptian
singer of Lebanese origin, made it popular in 1960 with Mustapha and
Fais-moi du Couscous, Chérie (Make me Couscous, Darling). The musician
who started his career in Italy in the late fifties really came to fame
in France thanks to these two songs. About twenty LPs were to follow,
not all as successful, maybe due to his sometime lack of mastery in
terms of quality and productivity. Léo Clarens the French-born Caliph of
Francophone oriental Cha-Cha-Cha is omnipresent in this compilation,
under his various stage names. Born Louis Tiramani Coulpier in Marseille
in 1923, the clarinetist formed his first orchestra at the start of the
Second World War. Stranded during part of the war in Algiers, he ended
up being promoted to conductor of the 2nd Armored Division! When Paris
was liberated, he went to the capital looking for work. There, he
recorded his first records (covers of American standards) for the
Philips label in the 1950s thanks to the famous Jacques Canetti, one of
the greatest French artistic directors of the 20th century. Apart from
his recordings under various pseudonyms (Kemal Rachid, the Kili-Cats),
the Marseille musician became a popular arranger, in particular for
Michel Sardou. He also assisted Paul Mauriat for many years. Later on
working with Laurent Voulzy and Jean Jacques Goldman in the seventies
and eighties.
Léo Clarens was not the only one to give in to oriental cha-cha-cha. A
number of musicians threw themselves to the task, most often with
mediocre results, but with a few nice surprises such as Benny Bennet or
Los Cangaceiros. Benny Bennett is an American musician of Venezuelan
origin who lives in France. He recorded many albums and 45 rpms mainly
for Vogue in the late fifties and early sixties. A jazz drummer, he
discovered Cuban music through his first wife Cathalina. From then on,
he recorded mambos, calypsos, boleros and cha-cha-cha including their
oriental variations with the excellent Couscous and Ismaëlia. Los
Cangaceiros were a Paris based band led by Yvan Morice. They released
four albums in the early sixties some of which were also published in
the United States, as well as a dozen 45 rpms. Under his real name, Yvan
Heldman became a prolific lyricist for films such as Le Vicomte Règle
Ses Comptes (1967). We can thank him for the classic Dick Rivers Le
Vicomte song. The omnipresence of percussion and drums on Oriental
Express gives us some indication of Roger Morris' favorite instrument:
the drums. However, literature and the internet are stingy with details
on his career. At most, one can find out that the musician published
half a dozen EPs, mainly for the Homère label, as well as two albums,
one typical of the early sixties (Surprise Party 2) and a second,
Library at L'Illustration Musicale. Raymond Lefèvre's career was much
better documented! Present on this compilation thanks to his
reinterpretation of the Lawrence of Arabia theme written by the great
Maurice Jarre (father of Jean Michel) in a Bolero style,he was a
soundtrack regular. Composing over 700 arrangements, he was especially
well known for his participation in Dalida’s Bambino and for the
Gendarme of St Tropez soundtrack.
On that note, it's time to sit back and relax in your lawn chair, smoke a
hookah (to keep the clichés going) and discover Loukoum - Cha Cha au
Harem!
Skin Graft / John Wiese - (2020) Accessible World
Troniks – TRO-302
Oh, holy heck! This is one ferocious beast of an album, a non-stop
convulsion of nine concise blammo noise attacks that’s exactly as fierce
as one might want/imagine a Marvel Team-Up of John Wiese and Wyatt
Howland/Skin Graft to be. Straight out of the gate from its opening
volley, this pummels… there’s so much constant motion and so many
simultaneous competing lines of noise that it demands deep attention to
keep up with the barrage of simultaneous explosions. A glass-shattering
cascade will fire in several directions with different shades of crunch,
stutter for half a second, then reconfigure and blast again with
machine-gun scatter, glassine feedback and synthesizer spraying new
colours/shapes. “Accessible World” attacks at top velocity for its short
duration… which is just long enough to cram in enough energy to fuel a
dozen lesser noise albums. On “Melpomene”, for example, the track’s five
minutes contain a whirl of competing elements that twist, implode, then
erupt over and over. A lesser album might have been expanded from this
piece alone, but Wiese favours brevity… his discography (both solo and
with his group Sissy Spacek) features a surprising number of one-sided
seven inches and half-hour-or-less CDs. I suppose he likes to get to the
point and leave ‘em breathlessly wanting more… which he does! So while
it shouldn’t be a surprise that these nine tracks last just over half an
hour, he packs plenty of information to warrant return visits, allowing
listeners to change focus and hear the ultra-dense and ultra-active
music differently. The quick inhalations between tracks are the only
pause that a listener gets, and they aren’t much respite… “Accessible
World” is restless noise, ceaseless high-density sound in perpetual
furiously-breathless motion, recorded at a level of clarity to
encourage/reward concentrated listening if that’s what you want to do
with it. Or, you can play “Accessible World” loud and not overthink it…
Thee Oh Sees - (2020) Metamorphosed
Rock Is Hell Records – RIP93
Set for an October 16 release via Rock Is Hell, the five-track
‘Metamorphosed’ is comprised of songs recorded during the sessions for
the Oh Sees’ 2019 album ‘Face Stabber’.
In a press release written by none other than Henry Rollins, Dwyer
discussed how ‘Metamorphosed’ came about, saying he found himself with a
record’s worth of material earlier this year.
“Things were starting to grind to a halt, so it was the perfect time to
sew it all up. People need some tunes right now and I think the artists
community is making a good run of it. So much great shit is seeing light
right now,” Dwyer commented.
“‘Metamorphosed’ would’ve been out sooner but with the virus
restrictions, shipping of LPs has obviously slowed down and so has
manufacturing, so here we are.”
The band changed their name from Oh Sees to Osees back in July with the announcement of ‘Protean Threat’.
Gnawed - (2020) Subterranean Rites
Malignant Records – TUMORCD125
Over the past decade, Grant Richardson has nurtured his solo undertaking
Gnawed into one of the leading forces of Midwest noise. Following
numerous cassettes and CD’s for labels like Phage Tapes, New Forces, and
his own Maniacal Hatred imprint, Richardson is welcomed into the
Cloister family via Subterranean Rites, his first full-length vinyl
release (with a CD version on the Malignant label) carefully constructed
over the past three years. His meticulously patient and disconcerting
approach to death industrial and power electronics evades blunt bombast
for a distinct dynamism that crawls ahead obscurely, a slow suffocation
by the stench of decay lining the sewers, tunnels, and concrete vaults
Richardson recorded on location as source material. While it may seem
trite to laud Subterranean Rites as the most thoroughly realized Gnawed
work thus far, Richardson’s breathing drones, sub-audible pulsations,
subconsciously esoteric vocals, and almost orchestral grim electronic
manipulations have been articulated with masterful confidence, a
chilling shot of disquiet for bleak times.
Hive Mind - (2020) Elysian Alarms
Difficult Interactions – DI-CD-1
"Surfacing from deep eddies of despair, brined in nearly a decade of
retrograde emotions, Hive Mind extends and surpasses 2011’s Elemental
Disgrace with a new vision of blurry, bleary atmospheres conjured
through post-dissolution electronics, giving the devoted what they
desire while still envisioning a new path forward.
In the album’s first half, the distress signals scrambled emergency
broadcast signals of “Wish Contact” thread seamlessly into the massive,
irreversible immolation of “Mars, Cloaked in Leather,” presenting a
condensed view of the earth in its final dissolution. Seen from
thousands of miles in the air, the last days resemble a field of
smoldering embers: metallic structures break apart and fall into the
sea, reverberating their last stunned gasps like submerged gongs. Wars
have been zero-sum; only loss, only obliteration, last soldiers laying
siege to ashes, fire burning fire, draped inelegantly with inky smoke
and toxic air. Explosives continue to detonate. Ceaseless obliteration
even after all loss of human life. Sound evoking the smell of
kerosene-soaked rags set ablaze, mortars repeating in the distance,
until suddenly a low, elegant roar, one that is unattributable to crude
human war machinery, emerges overhead. A vessel that could have been an
escape, a rebirth, but now only hovers, watching, bearing witness to
earth’s final dishonorable days. Poor and always compromised, never
proud. In disgust, the decision is made from above to evaporate all
traces. Sterilize the entire planet so that nothing (and especially NO
ONE) will ever rebuild again. Perhaps they could save a few as
specimens, but what could they possibly learn without being
contaminated? Enough. End it.
The second half of the program presents four short, stately, precise
environments evoked in sound, perhaps a view of four locations within
the witnessing vessel, locations in which other worlds, less lethal
worlds, can be heard and imagined. “The Roses in Bagatelle Garden” is a
chamber cooled with oscillating fans feathered in gold, lending a soft,
cooling drone under a new chant for new elders whose sacred icon is a
lock and its sacrament a bouquet of picks. “House Without a Key” scores a
stately processional to the court, every note and nuance trailing a
plume of fragrant lavender smoke. From a lower deck, a request is made
to “Come Alone.” A still pool stands in the middle of a massive
gymnasium; occasional drips reverberate off the walls, agitating swarms
of insects. From here, machinery from adjoining rooms can be heard
faintly, as if in translucent memory. “Pawns Put Back Together”
regresses us in a pool of psychedelic amniotic fluid, a ritual of
amnesia completed while far below, the world once known becomes another
cold, icy void in the universe.
Elysian Alarms contains many hidden surprises. It not only surpasses
recent releases like Beneath Triangle and Crescent and They Made Me the
Keeper of the Vineyards in density and textural variant, but the quartet
of shorter tracks present, over 75 releases in, a host of entirely new
possibilities, their synths and devices enveloping and protecting
smaller concrete sounds. At the same time, the blackened and greasy
opening track still rattles the innards and unsettles the spirit, just
as you want, just as you expect, just as this era of cascading
catastrophes demands. Be of good cheer, for the darkness only seems
eternal until the smoke subsides."
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