What are you listening to? 2022

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orchestra boabab - made in dakar

I think Made in Dakar is years later than A Night At Club Baobab so is going to be more Latin influenced than a lot of the music on that.
Still has Barthelemy Atisso on guitar but I think the Mande elements are less pronounced. Pirate's Choice is also great.

If you like the sound you might be interested in Etoile De Dakar which was a band that Youssou N'Dour was in for years and grew out of the Star Band whose name they translated. The compilation Once Upon A time in Senegal is quite superlative.

I also really love Les Ambassadeurs du motel de Bamako who are far more Mande influenced though do have some Latin tinges as Latin was something that exploded across Africa in the 50s and early 60s and also have long loping grooves played on electric instruments. There was a great 2cd put out by Stern's about 10 years ago which is fantastic. 1 disc features the vocals of Salif Keita who is a brilliant singer.

Their contemporaries in Bamako were the Rail band who have a lot of their material mopped up as a 3 x 2cd series called Belle Epoque. I have the 2nd volume and probably ought to have the other 2. But Vol 2 features Salif keita.

Also if you can find it and the time to read it I would recommend the book Mande Music by ethnomusicologist Eric Charry which gives a history of the music dating back to about the 13th century and a chapter on the electric version played by these bands.

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on Spotify

Haha so Steve Perry was not just influenced by Cooke, he was straight-up quoting "Nothing Can Change This Love" on "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'". He should have probably got a writing credit.

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late 40s radio broadcasts by charlie parker live at the royal roost

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Finally got a copy of this now that it has been remastered and reissued. Quite sublime set. Irish folk material reworked in the mid 70s.
I have been aware of the existence of this for years but not been familiar with it. So, glad to have it now.
Pretty essential if you like this genre. I don't think that's hyperbole. & remaster/reissue is 2 or 3 months old at the moment.

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Potomak cd reissue of german metal percussion band's 4th lp. THis is so resonant throughout deep bass tones punctuated with metal on metal beats. Seems like they are going against their previous directive of anti-music and are more about making music out of sound. There are bits of orchestration in places too. & a great version of Morning Dew which seems to set a bit of a tone, as much as the opening bass tones of Zerstorte Zelle.
I think this is thought o0f asa lesser lp but listening to it for the last week it strikes a major tone with me.I need to listen through the rest of their material I have and hopefully pick up a couple more of the Potomak reissues. I also remember this was the lp whose London performance featured Showaddy Waddy as the support act. Not sure how teh band fel;t about that, seems overly gimmicky really and probably down to one time manager Stevo (not where I got my name btw)

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Disc 2 of this which includes Rambling some more of the music from the lp Change of The Century and others from This Is Our Music. Its set up chronologically so doesn't follow lp tracklisting which may mean a different contextualisation of material included. Some of the material also appeared on later mop up compilations but I think this is a handy way of having things. I think I will return to this set for later discs soon. Do need to familiarise myself much better with his material . Hope to get hold of one of his biographies soon, the Howard Mandel book i read recently was quite good.

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one day i will find a copy of that ian carr record!

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Tine Surel Lange - Works for Listening 1-10

Angel Rat is cool. I should pull it out.

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questlove and james poyser remix pharrell's in my mind.

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The more Lo fi of a 2 voume series of the band from Benin West Africa. Really rather funky. Combines heavy influence from James Brown and other Western influences with some more traditional influences. This set was the music they recorded for smaller more independent labels in West Africa as opposed to its companion volume's recording in the much more up to date studio of EMI in Lagos. Not sure why I never got the other volume, need to remedy that. THink I mainly listened to this as tracks on random on my walkman which is rater neglectful of me since this is so 'kin superlative.
The one problem with listening to this on a 3 changer is that it has a hidden track like 10 minutes after the end of the music, which si a French language interview I think followed by another track of music. So I have to remember to switch discs at the end of the music. I don't think I'm a big fan of hidden tracks.
But jeez this is so great. Really not great that I don't listen to this even more. I think the cover image may fit the sound rather well.
Wondering if this music has had a direct influence on anybody. Cos would love to hear that if so. Just think things like this could revitalise rock and stuff which is probably not the best perspective sinc eit should be celebrated in itself and I don't want to encourage cultural appropriation but do think, what would garage/psych or punk with bits of this sound like and hope one isn't going to come up with Vampire Weekend who i did just about enjoy when they first appeared but were a bit white.

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I'd rather think of this with this cover than the one i have on the cd
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The bathroom cover just seems so much more stylish. & strikes me as much more synaesthetic than the street hippies one.
I think the band had better technology for this lp and a producer who was looking for a more polished product. I just listened to a Lydia Lunch podcast where she had Michael Zilka of ze records as the guest. He disparaged the lp itself as not having the feeling he would have liked, though he did like Dream Baby Dream/Radiation which are hear as bonus tracks. I really like it, it has some tracks on i I really love and sing in the shower etc.
I find the music really funky, Rev is really good at programming rhythm. I think the first lp has a pretty great rhythmic swing too. & the melodies he is using on top of that here are more pronounced too. Vega is pretty fantastic too. I think this is an archetypal sound that I would like to hear was heavily influential. But would hate to be universal since i think it took some taste to pull off.
Do love Diamonds , Fur Coat, Champagne and Harlem especially. BUt rest is good.

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Stompy proggy early 70s material by ex-Aphrodite's Child multimusician and future solo star.
I got this when it turned up cheap on Discogs a couple of years ago. Think it's quite good. Stompiness seems to verge on glam but other aspects of music seem more complex. I thinK i need to pick up another couple of the lps from around this era, not sure about later. Though his s/trk stuff was quite good. This was one of his first solo lps after leaving Aphrodites Child who are also worth checking out if you're not familiar with them. Combines heavy Greek folk themes with Western rock/pop influences which is prevalent here too.
Found this in a pile I'd set up to stop it getting lost while I searched through a load of cds. So finally getting to hear it a couple of weeks after it was quite as topical as it would have been. So RIP Vangelis.

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SALVATORE SCIARRINO: Musiche per il "Paradiso" di Dante

seth nehil - flock & tumble: lovely electroacoustic
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Chinchilla, how is that Sciarrino?

xxxxpost Stevolende, did you refer in passing to this other Orchestre Poly-Rythmo Continou, Echos Hypnotiques, Vol. 2 ?
My gateway and Top Ten that year:
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xpost Also really dig this collection, pretty no-budget demos in some cases, but yeah The Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk indeed!
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Some others, like the one you show, I still need to get to. Agree that Western bands should pick up on this Western etc.-aware, definitely African sound, keep things going back and forth.

Speaking of Ella, the local jazz station still plays some really good performances from these long-lost tapes, finally released a couple of years ago:

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Wow didn't know about those. I've been going through my LP collection, pulling out unjustly neglected records. These three are all gems.

Dow yes that green cover set was the other much better produced material volume in the same series as the king fu pose one.
Not sure why I never got hold of it since Voudun one so great. Maybe price and me wanting to buy a load of other stuff at same time. Or that and me thinking will pick this up at next shop I am heading to. Need to remedy

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1964 lp by jazz pianist, with bassist and 2 Latin artists on percussion . So no horns present and the piano is the sole melodic instrument though the percussion adds texture as well as rhythm. Quite tasty, I got this as part of a 5 Original Albums set which I picked up in a Rough Trade sale a few years ago. haven't familiarised myself with the contents of the box as much as i possibly should have. This is pretty good and i need some more Willie Bobo anyway.
IT's largely based on improvisation in the studio , like they seem to have very little written and just jammed up some stuff that turns out to be pretty worthwhile. If so, like wow.
So glad I did go ahead and stick this on this week cos it is a pretty rewarding listen, can get more positive than that about it but am just getting to know it. It's from 1964 and a current Miles Davis sideman so do wonder what the mods or whatever the elite in crowd of that group (which was then being morphed in the public mind by media attention) called themselves thought about it. Would be something you would expect a group of people who had called themselves modernists at one point might be expected to have an opinion on . Not sure if it was something that would be passed down as a must have though may find it was canonical to the Acid Jazz element of mod etc. Anyway just thinking of that since passing through the mod revival at an early age did influence my tastes as i grew up.
& on its own standing this is an lp I think i need to know better but would recommend, though checking out the box set is probably as good a pointer. NOt sure what else I'm missing by him from the era since the set skips a few titles from the era. & goes from 63 to 70 in 5 lps and he probably learnt a lot at the time.

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The first lp from a Ghanaian band that became better known through working with Hugh Masekela on the next 2 lps which I have on his Masekela 66-76 box set, THis is a really good somewhat psychedelic mix of traditional sounds and western influences. It's a bit frustrating cos I'm not seeing a listing of who played what and there are some sounds I would like to know what instruments are making. Like teh coiled spring thing that i assume is a form of jaws harp but could be totally wrong about.
So, great funky lp from 1973. Recommended. I would love to find a book on the African psychedelic lps that show th emix of Western influence and traditional sounds that produced some fantastic lps around this time. Haven't come across one so far , I think I bought a Vernon Joynson book a few years ago that I thought might cover that in depth and i think had way more on settler colonial type youth making western style rock than more indigenous people taking on Western influence and making decent mixtures. Would love to be more thoroughly versed in all of teh individual traditional sounds taht were being mixed with. But think that is an intensive immersive process.
Anyway one of the good African psych lps and that Masekela set is good for a few more things than just their next 2 lps. I think that set was going for pretty cheap when I bought it a while back .

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pretty comprehensive 3cd box set by California guitar band tied into Paisley Underground etc. This week its been the 3rd disc which is mainly live stuff from various sources after 6 demoes featuring a drum machine.
I think the band got television guitar pretty much down. I saw them live at Dingwalls in 85 or 84 which is a period that has several recordings represented here. I think there may be more lead/ rhythm guitar than the interplay that Verlaine and Lloyd had but lead does seem reminiscent of that sound at least, probably schooled a bit differently so may be superficial. Works quite well anyway. I thought Russ Tolman was more prominent asa guitarist so need to see if he does just fall into rhythm role more than Lloyd did.
My memory of the time had the other guitarist Richard McGrath standing on stage looking like the skinhead guy from Diva and pealing out these awesome guitar leads. Though Gavin Blair was a non instrumentalist singer who would be darting around the stage instead of there just being 2 guitarists as the front section. Blair had been drummer in the earlier band The Suspects which also featured Tolman and half of the Rain Parade
It has taken me way too long to get hold of decent representation of this band and also to get back to hear the other discs in this set once i did so. I was very impressed by the first disc here a few months ago. Made me wonder why I hadn't got massively into the drifters album when i had it on vinyl. Live sets do have a lot of covers in but they are done pretty well. Richard Lloyd's Alchemy, The CCR version of I Put A Spell On You, Iggy Pop Lust For life, ELvis Suspicious Minds. All done with that guitar style.
Do enjoy this, though not sure they're quite up to the standard of Thin White Rope who get semi hypnotic at places. Very close to .

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Great album

Stevolende, I'm impressed that you got to see True West at Dingwall's! In my experience, they were mostly working their way through the US boondocks in a crappy little van, when indie rock was especially DIY if you couldn't get on MTV, and I sure never saw them on there (ditto anybody on SST, lots of other labels not so far from show biz central geographically).
Your comments on African bands remind me of these guys, who had I think one album marginally released during their time together, and a collection in 2013, which made my Pazz & Jop ballot:

National Wake---Walk In Africa 1979-1980: Music made by young South Africans, of various RSA racial classifications: punk-funk-reggae-dub, reminding me of Australia's Us Mob, No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone, early live Police, some of Tom Robinson's combos, Bad Brains kinda. The finale, a dub workout, is over 17 min long, like over three times as long as any other, but despite my habitual editorial fantasies, wouldn't part with a particle so far. Would have Top Tenned this set, but already got all those reissues on there already…

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