S/D : Sublime Frequencies

There was some objection to the very mild and polite criticism of VVenu VVenu is the official line but I get the impression that is our relationship done with (we interviewed him very 'early on' [in UK terms] and have promoted gigs for him etc). There's still a bit of fall out going on but I will have the full story later on when some ruffled feathers have been smoothed and some stuff has been corroborated (I think it's worth talking about). There's absolutely no criticism of D0mino or SF from me though (SubFreq especially... I'm a big, big fan of what they do) - it's possibly more to do with the kind of parties who can glom onto international musicians behind the scenes when they start making it big in different territories - especially when there are language and cultural differences that can be played upon. It's frustrating for us as obviously financially we'd be much better off doing buzzfeed style lists or interviewing Dj@ngo DJ@ngo... no one's paying their rent or food bills by doing loads of features on dabke, choubi and Chaabi for online publications. It's just what we like writing about. So it's not like we're playing some kind of bullish build 'em up/knock 'em down game with him but likewise no one's getting kid glove treatment off us either... I like VVenu VVenu but it's still relatively marginal music at the end of the day despite the big name producer... [sorry about the coffee fueled, non sequitur laden, influenza influenced and vague answer]

That reaction to Gergis' criticism is unfortunate.

Hopefully Souleyman's current label will get past that.

http://brownbook.me/sublime-frequencies/

nice profile of label co-owner Hisham and look at his home and the stuff in it

thanks, bookmarking.

Really regretting not picking up certain SF releases on vinyl. Surely they'd be worth repressing?

Yep

thai country groove from isan is awesome!

Had never heard of this release till now

Indian Talking Machine is a 244-page book with two CDs. Containing over 300 photographs of Indian 78rpm record collections, collectors, and ephemera. A personal take on the vast worlds of Indian music and the intricacies of collecting sound. Indian Talking Machine is the result of nearly a year in India photographing record collections, interviewing collectors, and visiting archives and record markets: photographs of shelves groaning under the weight of unimaginable titles, beautiful label and sleeve designs from long gone eras, wind up talking machines, crammed antique shops, forgotten artists, and more that somehow survived (often barely survived) the difficult "archival" issues of India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=encQfGLE4io

jeez that looks amazing. not even very pricey either! $36 at forced exposure (though it's out of stock at the moment).
http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/millis-robert-indian-talking-machine-78-rpm-record-and-gramophone-co-2cd-book/SF.099CD.html

same price and in stock at amazong if like me you have zero moral backbone

Friday October 13--Alan Bishop as Alvarius B (Sun City Girls guitarist plays outsider folk w/ Egyptian influences) solo and does a Q & a before movie doc “Invisible Hands” a documentary film about Bishop & his band, Invisible Hands, one of two of his Egypt based groups) @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins Gallery in Washington DC

Saturday October 14- Dwarves of East Agouza ( Cairo based w/ Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls & Maurice Louca & Sam Shalabi) , Deakin & Geologist ( of Animal Collective), Jenny Moon Tucker @ Rhizome in DC

Mon. Oct 16- Baba Commandant and Mandingo band (Sublime Frequencies label band) @ 6 pm @ the Mt Pleasant Library (Burkina Faso afrobeat) in Washington DC

“Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film about street musicians in Marrakesh, Morocco plaza by Hisham Mayet w/ a q & a w/Sublime Frequencies label head & director Mayet and musician Alan Bishop @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins

Fri. October 20-
Dwarfs of East Agouza (Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls) with Deakin + Geologist, @, and Androgynous Bulge @ The Compound, 2239 Kirk Avenue in Baltimore

Hisham Mayet of Sublime is the road manager for current Baba Commandant tour. He directed the Musical Brotherhoods film doc that is showing tonight . He told me on the phone that he has done some filming in Burkina Faso, but he's not ready yet to make it into a movie or audio project yet.

The Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film dvd is sold out. I think the earlier film Mayet filmed at the Jemaa el-Fnaa is also unavailable.

Pretty interesting hearing them talk tonight.

They pull down videos people post of their stuff on YouTube ( and are annoyed by YouTube profiting) but they’re ok with folks finding their stuff via more obscure download sites

Mayet has done some filming in Burkina Faso. Is going to Colombia in February to see Son Palenque and maybe film them

A recent Sublime F release, from India , Madhuvanti Pal instrumental effort on the rudra veena. Traditional sounds with a psychedelic feel

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/madhuvanti-pal-the-holy-mother-plays-the-rudra-veena

thanks for the revive, I have not been keeping up with this label at all and that link sounds fantastic

20th anniversary Sublime Frequencies gig in Queens NY October 18 with Baba Commandant band from Burkina Faso and Dwarfs of East Agouza ( Egypt based ) . Both Sublime F founders Bishop and Hayet will be there

Dwarfs of East Agouza are so good, but I raved about BabaC live show on the AfroPop thread, what a killer lineup. Paul Major DJing as well!

I have mentioned Baba on global whirled African bands and more thread. Gonna see Dwarfs of East Agouza tomorrow night

Would have loved to see Baba Commandant, just finally picked up their most recent album and absolutely loving it.

Because US promoter of Baba C tour in US is Washington DC based they have done a bunch of gigs locally including free ones at a park and one at lunchtime at a library

Saw the Dwarfs of East Agouza last night. Good Egypt meets motorik meets Velvets groove at times. But also distorted vocals, falsetto ones & some improv noisy sax solos.

Alan has also done solo gigs on this tour, and has solo albums out. I haven’t heard him solo live or recorded yet.

Found out that the Bishop brothers are related to Washington DC rockabilly and honkytonk guitarist Ratso who has played with Kinky Friedman and Tex Rubinowitz.

What type of venue did you see Dwarfs of East Agouza? I saw them in a kind of stale setting in Europe this spring and it didn’t seem quite right.

I saw them in a former car repair shop looking place, where you had to enter in from a hard to find entrance in back in an area of Baltimore with warehouses and just a liquor store nearby selling single cheap beers. The crowd was standing and some dancing and enthusiastic. Maybe some were there to see the members of Animal Collective (Deakin & Geologist) who opened, but they mostly stuck around for Dwarfs. Plus since Baltimore gets less events than DC, I think that helped draw more people too. Ian Nagoski who runs Canary Records was there, Tonal Park Studio in Takoma , MD guy too

https://www.sublimefrequencies.com/store

Some items only available in mp3, but they have vinyl, cd, and dvds for some still

wtfffffff

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0HuZH0P1mL/

i'm gutted. one of the best shows i've seen in years.

Yep, damn malaria . RIP Baba Commandant

Cool new Egyptian music release by The Handover on Sublime Frequencies

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/the-handover