The thread for discussing the amazing Life Is A Problem comp on MISSISSIPPI records

Dog Faced Hermans record is absolutely fantastic, FYI. Maybe still available at Forced Exposure.

I was gonna bump this thread cuz I went to Mississippi (the store) last weekend, bought the Washington Phillips record (SO GOOD) but passed on that Animals & Men. They have all of their agonizingly out of print releases up there on the wall, laughing at you.

i thought i was the only one that heard that laughter!

gonna pick this up tomorrow. sounds like they've taken it way back to pre war stuff/last kind words era stuff--

Artist: VA
Title: Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long
Label: MISSISSIPPI RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $13.00
Catalog #: MR 025LP
"Compilation of sanctified blues recorded between 1927-1934. This is our sequel to the popular Life Is A Problem LP. Twelve songs of pure guitar-driven gospel. This slab is as melodic as it is rockin'. Features songs by Bukka White, Willie Mae Morris, Bo Weevil Jackson, Kid Prince Moore and more. This is packaged in the old-fashioned tip-on sleeve."

i still think they messed up by not numbering things one mississippi, two mississippi &c

i still think they messed up by not numbering things one mississippi, two mississippi &c

ha ha! yes, a totally missed opportunity.

not dour enough.
jus kiddin i love the MS records. i think my favorite is "i don't feel at home in this world anymore" but they're all pretty essential.

yeah ok scratch what i said earlier. "fight on..." is fucking great.

it's great, huh. some of it's really other worldly. and no-one writes songs like or plays guitar like sign of judgement anymore.

was going to bump this yesterday to note two new mississippi releases: the first rats lp and another portland seven inch (by sad horse: what a name). apparently the single "Comes with an incomplete Mississippi Records catalog.", which sounds interesting.

i've been chasing up a couple of singers from the earlier comps recently - everything i've heard by lulu jackson from last kind words is great, in the same vein as careless love.

ive started tracking down as many of the original music LP's, earlier compilations of the african stuff on love is love and lipa kodi ya

as many as i can, that is

Hey Pete oh buddy oh pal

ive started tracking down as many of the original music LP's, earlier compilations of the african stuff on love is love and lipa kodi ya

wow i would like to do this. i was pretty surprised how much of love is love is culled from africa dances. ieven though some of the other hugh tracey stuff on there's amongst the best. is that the case with lipi kodi ya? & have you found anything good? i'm kind of clueless digging through stuff like folkways and original records because they all sound so good, like bavarian folk tales are automatically going to be pretty and gentle feeling.

control your boners, dude. im up to ONE so far.

on ebay right now from the UK, theres a copy of lipa kodi ya with a weird printed label. mine is plain white! can anyone else share about this?

can we also change this thread name to MISSISSIPPI RECORDS or do we want to keep it to only a few elite posters who can electronically talk about this stuff

there's a nice comp on Rounder called "ju ju roots" that isn't terribly hard to find that is similar in feel to Lipa Kodiya. My copy of said LP also has a plain white label.

you know what? i just noticed that misspelling in this thread title for the first time.

It can be a pain to find this thread. Who's got the ilx power to correct the spelling in the title and add "Mississippi Records" to it?

I haven't been able to get anyone to change my spelling error in the Chitlin Circuit soul thread title. Of course, I only requested a change on that thread (and I am the only one who posts on it!). It should be Theotis Ealey's not "Easley's". Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Easley's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

Picked up Bongo Joe and Fight On the other day, but haven't listened to the latter yet. Awful, horrible packaging for Fight On though, and I like to pretend I don't care, but then it turns out I DO CARE. Make it look better. Anyways, Rats LP is fantastic. Song for song, maybe the best Dead Moon (not Dead Moon) album ever. Amazing how long Fred and Toody have been working that mine. Missed out on Irma Thomas. Sads.

It can be a pain to find this thread.

i'm sure i've seen irma thomas around recently. soundfix maybe? will liveblog every trip to a record store in this thread and tell you if it's around somewhere.

irma thomas is here

CHANGE records (and LITTLE AXE) are MS records gag-labels

Anyways, Rats LP is fantastic.

yeah! it's a noisy pressing, though, don't know if that's to do with the original or what, but killer. are there plans to rerelease their other albums, anyone know?

Just posted a request on the moderator thread to have them correct the spelling and add Mississippi Records to the title of this thread

Thank you moderator for the quick thread title corrections

yeah! it's a noisy pressing, though...

-- GOTT PUNCH II

True. Sounds like it was mastered off an old LP. Noticed the same thing on that Sub-Pop comp from a couple years back. Lots of crackle. Artistic decision or just a side-effect of the Tombstone/Mississippi process? Dunno, both maybe. Anyway, yeah, I'd love to see the other 2 LPs repressed.

has anyone heard that why are we building such a big ship record? i might be getting the name off slightly. i think it's tangentially mississippi released.

has anyone heard that why are we building such a big ship record? i might be getting the name off slightly. i think it's tangentially mississippi released.

― schlump, Monday, December 29, 2008 9:36 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark

distributed through MS, but the matrix number is not like MR-XXX, which all the MS ones are, even the irma thomas ("change records") or the clean comp ("little axe records"). if you like gogol bordello, you might like it, but i think its wack.

OH GRAVEYARD is out, FYI. It's the debut release on Social Music, and is the sequel to 'Life is a Problem.' I think it came out OK.

Keep finding so much amazing music in this vein -- in fact we'll probably get a third comp. out soon that's also like it. I used to be worried that I didn't have enough material for this three CD box set (which will be called, as of today FIRE IN MY BONES) of post-war sanctified/ ethereal/ intense gospel I'm doing for Tompkins Square but now I'm not sure 320 minutes is enough.

Future Social Music titles: June Brides best-of comp., a Straight Street Group LP, a Jamaican gospel comp. (first time this stuff's ever been collected as far as I know), the first-ever album dedicated solely to the great bluesy gospel musician Boyd Rivers, the solo project of Frankie Rose which I do not yet know the name of, a killer white gospel comp., some other things.

Ohhh, and I did have a peek at that other Miss. Records thread on here, which was just stuffed with quite a lot of mis-information and then based on all of these crazy assumptions about other labels (i.e. show me ONE artist on Stern's that sees royalties), so I couldn't look at much of it. I'd much rather watch a 'House' rerun if I'm gonna listen to some asshole's opinion. But, in response to that there thread, I'll say that all titles on Social Music will be fully licensed, unless it's impossible to track an artist down in which case we'll hold stuff in escrow and cross our fingers.

Personally, I want to track down artists/ relatives, not only to give them $$ they fully deserve, but what if they have some other stuff lying around? For instance, the upcoming ABNER JAY release totally benefits from those guys having tracked down one of his kids.

Ohhhh, and not only has Mississippi started a tape-only label -- I think they're only available in the shop -- but I'm starting my own tape and CD-R label this month, too. Because I'm a no-good copy-cat, and because I found a professional dupe machine for super cheap.

yeah so any more RATS or what

distributed through MS, but the matrix number is not like MR-XXX, which all the MS ones are, even the irma thomas ("change records") or the clean comp ("little axe records"). if you like gogol bordello, you might like it, but i think its wack.

yeah, i know it's a whole mississippi multi-label franchise and all; i think there was some talk on here about something else coming out on domino, i forget what. i heard some samples and thought it sounded like the glut of gulag bands that beirut headed and drag city signed one of, like nice instruments but kind of a twenty first century pat boone thing.

since there was talk on this and the other thread about people buying up original music lps - i never thought that lipi kodi ya was culled from one, but what do i know. all the talk of the mysterious packaging made me wonder if anyone knew anything about the standout choral thing at the end of side one, by the notre-dame singing group. did anyone hear this before, or elsewhere, or anything?

social music stuff all looks exciting. post about anything coming out!, tapes and all.

hey mike, i was thinking after i messaged you the other day--do you have the rev. mcgee/rev. rice LP on Eden Records? if not i have a few copies.

i.e. show me ONE artist on Stern's that sees royalties)-Mike M

I was curious about this and found a Robert Christgau article on Sterns and the Tabu Ley Rochereau comp in the NY Times that suggest that the artists get some money (although in this case a flat fee and not royalties) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/arts/music/18chri.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/Ghana&pagewanted=all

To break even Sterns needed to sell 6,000 physical copies of the package, which is available for $25.49 on amazon.com. Sales are now around 9,000, with money from downloads also trickling in. For a label like Sterns, “The Voice of Lightness” is a hit.
According to Mr. Urbanus, Mr. Rochereau wanted a flat advance fee rather than royalties on the “Voice of Lightness” compilation, so strong sales won’t benefit him financially. (Mr. Rochereau did not respond to requests for comment.) But Modero Mekansi, the singer’s music director from 1977 to 1997, said money wasn’t Mr. Rochereau’s only object. ”Even when you’re well known, you still want to be known by people who didn’t know who you were before,” Mr. Mekansi said. “You want to be better known.” He added that with so many European-based African labels going into bankruptcy, “it’s only Sterns that can do something good to keep people in touch with this music.”

Super glad to see Stern's pays royalties -- apparently I'm now talking out my ass as well. Yippe/ sorry about that.

Why Are We Building a Big Ship is the first release via the great New Orleans-based DOMINO RECORD SHOP, not got anything to do w/ the Domino label. It's a great shop, kind of a "sister store" to MS -- and, truth be told, the best place to find out of print Miss. Records for non-eBay prices in the world.

Dude also has his own little tape label which RULES.

Why Are We Building are clearly taking off from the second line tradition rather than all of this fake Aeroplane/ Bordello bullshit of the last few years. They're not the Hot 8, but they're not trying to be either -- I don't love that LP but I like ti a lot and can't wait to see what's next from them (including a song on the next YETI CD).

a Straight Street Group LP

HELL YES

p.s. Mike if u could email me about yr label it would be much appreciated.

What's the guy's tape label? I'm looking for some tapes!

The Miss. tapes are just crappy looking + cheap little comp.s of soul, gospel, etc. There are 5 or 6 thus far. I believe a batch is about to hit eBay (not via me).

my portland friend has been buying me the tapes! i got the first four over new year's, and they are so so good.

in addition to oh graveyard, MS records affiliate CHANGE records (still has MR on the matrix) repressed pandit pran nath's earth groove, and it is really really great. listening to it now, oh graveyard is next!

hey mike, thanks so much for your involvement in like half of the releases i was most excited about in 2008. you rule.

wonder if anyone knew anything about the standout choral thing at the end of side one, by the notre-dame singing group. did anyone hear this before, or elsewhere, or anything?

seconded!!! among my fave songs on the african comps!

whoa shit. towards the end of side two of earth groove, PPN straight up COUGHS. then he just gets right back to his raga. what a bro. maybe youve all heard this record before a thousand times, but its new to meeeee

man, i want the tapes. maybe it's in response to the records having become so internationally lusted after.

the traveling echoes song on oh graveyard is beautiful!

i don't think it's made it to ny yet, but i used to hear the traveling echoes on sinner's crossroads: such a great, apposite group name.

the host of sinner's crossroads is credited (along with mike m) with "providing tracks and education"

still waiting on our box of graveyard :(

d'you know if you're getting the earth groove lp too?

we've got Earth grooveeeee. which we kinda were stupid for getting from Forced Exposure, but whatever. other stuff coming soon? come by soon, schlump

for sure. you can be my official PREFERRED RETAILER of msx stuff. i tried to see if you had the animal collective record a couple of nights ago but it was late + you were closed. if you wanna bump this thread when oh graveyard's in, i'll come pick up.

the host of sinner's crossroads is credited (along with mike m) with "providing tracks and education"

i have a big bag of post-it notes i used to scrawl things down on when i started listening to fmu, and i know there's a url on one for a site kevin nutt used to mention - it's raregospelsides.com or something, and was the source of bunches of stuff he used to play i think. will post it up if i can find it. it is an INSPIRATIONAL show and i am a DEVOTIONAL listener.

http://www.rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=840