Audrey Fall are a post-rock, post-metal quartet out of Riga, Latvia. They produce a fine, powerful music and should be making a lot of worthwhile noise in the near future.
Music Technology
[Music] Mamadou Diabate, Dramane Dembélé, Claudio Spieler – Barokan
The month of September was rather spectacular for me. First, I was able to see my beloved friends in Skopje, Macedonia, where people are almost as close as my own blood relatives. The next little joy I experienced was going to the Without Borders World Music Consortium, where I had the pleasure to re-connect with comrades who spend their days promoting the best of World and Ethno Music in their respective countries.
I am especially indebted to seeing Stefanie Schumann of Delicious Tunes, who introduced me to the work of Mamadou Diabate, a balofon player originally from Burkina Faso (now residing in Vienna, Austria, if I’m not mistaken). After being blown away by his band, who were showcased on the final evening of Without Borders (along with Breton sensations Plantec), I was given a CD which featured not only Mamadou and fellow countryman, the pelu (flute) player Dramane Dembélé and Austrian percussionist Claudio Spieler.
After having the honor of meeting Mamadou, I was given some rather impressive background information. He comes from a Samba “Jeli” family, and has several works available (all of which we hope to review in the future).
Throughout the disc, the musicians play very comfortably together, as if they had been a trio for a long time. As it turns out, Mamadou and Dramane perform together with some frequency, but Claudio’s percussion work underpins the the balafon and peul beautifully.
Where the album shines, however, is when Mamadou sings, especially on the song Koroya. His voice, in harmony with Dramane’s reminds me of the best of West African music, and the balafon adds even more body, serving, in some sense, as a third voice.
The record is pretty much flawless, and will we a welcome addition to World Music connoisseurs into their collection. To purchase the CD, either contact Mamadou directly, or Delicious Tunes.
[Music] Conrad Schnitzler & Bernhard Wöstheinrich – 20070709
Conrad Schnitzler was a legendary electronic music composer who passed away in 2011. Four years beforehand, he collaborated with a young fellow German musician called Bernhard Wöstheinrich, who was well over 30 years his junior. The collaboration produced one hour-long track which builds, grinds, throbs and swells in a way that is abrasive, yet pleasant.
The release is on Iatepus Media, and you can read notes from their album on the label site.
[Music] Mol Kamach and Baksey Cham Krong – Ne Penser Qu’à Toi
Cambodia’ first guitar rock band was one which could have held its own in France or even the United States during the early 1960s. There’s quite an amazing story to go along with this release, courtesy of the Mol Kamach and Baksey Cham Krong Bandcamp page here:
For the first time two single records of Baksey Cham Krong – the first Cambodian guitar band – are officially being reissued in an identical version. Between surf music and ballad, these two records released in 1963 and 1964 are an invitation to rediscover the effervescent Khmer musical scene of the 1960s.
The early 1960s are often described as the “golden age” of Cambodia, with a flourishing economy and a strong cultural development. As the country had just won its independence, the King Norodom Sihanouk – who had been a singer himself (see below) – encouraged dynamism and creativity in all aspects of cultural life.
In 1959, in the midst of this artistic turmoil, Mol Kamach and his brothers created a band: the Baksey Cham Krong (also spelled Bakseis Cham Krung) named after a temple of the Angkor site. The teenagers were influenced by the latest hits they had listened on the radio. For the music, Kagnol got his inspiration from the rock n’ roll of the Ventures and the Shadows while Kamach took over the vocal techniques of crooners such as Paul Anka. The lyrics were either in French (as for the song Ne penser qu’à toi) or in Khmer. The song Pleine Lune became a hit and revealed Kagnol’s musical genius at playing guitar and Kamach’s delicate voice. From their beginnings on the capital’s high school stages to their first broadcasts on national radio, the success of the Baksey Cham Krong was very quick. At the end of the decade the band already split, the brothers getting back to activities that conformed more with their parents’ expectations.
A few years later, in April 1975, the arrival of the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh put an end to this musical development and started the darkest era of Cambodia’s contemporary history. A quarter of the population was killed in the Khmer Rouge genocide and the majority of artists and intellectuals were exterminated in a sordid will to wipe out any form of culture in the country. Films and music were banned, movie tapes and vinyls were destroyed. Mol Kamach and Mol Kagnol luckily managed to flee the country: one now lives in France, the other in the USA. Both still continue to make music nowadays.
Bearing witness to the past history, the reissue of these two single records of Baksey Cham Krong brings back to us the Cambodian musical scene of the 1960s.
Akuphone, the French label responsible for this release, is definitely in possession of a catalog worth exploring.
[Music] Arturo Stàlteri – ...e il pavone parlò alla Luna
Arturo Stàlteri is a pianist who originally gained fame with the Italian progressive chamber rock group Pierrot Lunaire as a 15-year-old. He is still making magnificent music today, but this particular album is an album which was recorded in 1980 but shelved until today.
[Music] Nadah El Shazly – Ahwar
Singer and composer Nadah El Shazly apparently began her career in a punk rock band doing Misfits covers. She’s come a long way, creating an eerie work with references to experimental music and musique concrète, with a nod to French composers of the INA-GRM tradition.
If I recall correctly, if was my friend and colleague C-Drik who brought her name to my attention. I am indebted to him.
[Music] Luís Lapa & Pé de Cabra – O Homem Invisível
I don’t like the term noir for music unless it fits in a film-like connotation, but there’s something pleasantly dark in this new release by Luís Lapa & Pé de Cabra, two Portuguese jazz heads. The Saul Bass-inspired cover art gives it away, I suppose, but the music is quite deep.
[Music] Gamardah Fungus – Fairytales
Gamardah Fungus are an experimental groups out of Dnipro, Ukraine, who build a lot of their own instruments. According to the band’s Bandcamp site, “The album was inspired by the spellbinding events, which happened to us in an old abandoned manor in Ukrainian forests.”
This is my first exposure to Gamardah Fungus. I look forward to hearing and sharing more in the future.
[Music] The Rich History—and Present—of Latin American Prog
Pervuian psych-rockers Laghonia.
Noah Berlatsky of Bandcamp Daily gives a decent retrospective on some of the great progressive and psychedelic bands which came out of South America during the 1970s, though, sadly, the Mellow Records contributions seem to be permanently deleted, which is a shame.
[Music] Nawksh – Mythic Tales of Tomorrow II
Nawksh are a psychedelic rock band out of Karachi, Pakistan, and seem to fit perfectly onto the Guruguru Brain roster of freakish electro-psych.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 