Author: Rudy Carrera

[Photos] These Beautiful Old Books Are a Bibliophile’s Dream

/ Rudy Carrera / 2 Comments

Books as works of art in and of themselves. Remarkable. Simon Brown makes books look… desirable!

Many thanks to my friend Al Clark, whose group is a goldmine for oddities, especially when it comes to music. We may be miles apart politically, but this gorgeous photo set, like music, brings us into agreement.

Credit to Slate, who originally posted this link. Also, if you want to know more about Simon Brown and his work, check out this site.

[Video] Anastasia (Анастасија) – Na Rjekah Vavilonskih (By The Rivers of Babylon)

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One of the greatest bands in the history of Balkan alternative music, Anastasia were fronted by singer Goran Trajkoski (Gotra), who went on to sing for Macedonian legends Mizar, as well as making incredible music as a solo musician. He is also an old friend who is as decent as he is talented.

Here is a sample of what you’re hearing, which is based on a text from the Holy Bible (David’s Psalm 137:1) in historic documents connected with destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 588 BC.:

На реките Вавилонски
таму седевме и плачевме
сеќавајќи се на Цион
На врбите среде него
ги обесивме нашите харфи
Таму нашите поробувачи ни бараа песни
нашите мачители се радуваа викајќи:
Пејте ни од песните ционски
Како да пееме песни господови на земји туѓински
Ако те заборавам тебе, Ерусалиме
нека се заборави десницата моја
Нека си го голтнам јазикот
ако не се сетам на тебе
ако не го издигнам Ерусалим
над мојата најголема радост
Сети се Господи на синовите едомски
кога дента во Ерусалим викаа:
разурнете го, разурнете го до темели.
Ќерко вавилонска, опустошена
блежен нека биде тој што ќе ти го направи тебе
она што ти ни го направи нам
Блажен нека биде тој што ќе ги земе децата твои
и ќе ги удри од камен.

In English:

By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down and wept,
When we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst of it
We hung our harps.
For there our captors demanded of us songs,
And our tormentors mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
How can we sing the LORD’S song
In a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
May my right hand forget her skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
If I do not remember you,
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom
The day of Jerusalem,
Who said, “Raze it, raze it
To its very foundation.”
O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,
How blessed will be the one who repays you
With the recompense with which you have repaid us.
How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock.

[Podcast] ‘Winter lends an me an ear’ by Klankschap

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https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2FKlankschap%2Fwinter-lends-an-me-an-ear%2F&embed_uuid=3b6594bf-252f-4b4d-832a-24cefbca90ac&replace=0&hide_cover=1&embed_type=widget_standard&hide_tracklist=1

Winter lends an me an ear by Klankschap on Mixcloud

Christophe Ywaska, a rather good experimental musician, did me the kindness of turning me on to Klankschap’s most recent podcast. Well-balanced ambient music for a rather cool evening in Los Angeles.

[Video] Colosseum – The Valentyne Suite

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During a good part of the 1990s, I had the pleasure of working at one of the best record stores in America (I mean that literally – maybe two or three were greater, and that’s it). Aron’s Records was, for me, a finishing school for musical knowledge, a place where I was able to really broaden my taste in music (I have old friends Dana Madore and Ted Plank to thank for most of that, though so many contributed mightily to hipping me to new music).

Dana, in particular, as well as my clients, were fans of Colosseum and solo projects which sprang from its loins. ‘The Valentyne Suite’ is a particularly meaty piece of Hammond-based prog.