Local Los Angeles label Cold Busted release a properly chilled album by Berlin-based musician Boris Blenn. Blenn updates the easy listening genre and spices it up a bit with Nu Jazz, making a pleasant space-age cocktail disc worth relaxing to.
New Releases
[Music] Bandcamp – The Hidden World of Psychedelic Jewish Folk
From the article:
There’s an argument to be made that the origins of mind-expanding folk music date back centuries before the advent of recorded music. There’s an old understanding, popular in Orthodox circles, that the Torah is, itself, one long song—a song handed down from smoked-out Mount Sinai by Moses, where the assembled masses of humanity experienced collective synesthesia, and saw the sounds of the voice of G-d.
Connect the dots: Jews are the people of The Book, and our book is a scroll of sheet music first performed at an ancient psychedelic rock concert. Bob Dylan (whose Hebrew name is Shabtai Zissel) knows it; Chronicles, Vol. One, for example, takes its name from the Hebrew Scriptures.
But there isn’t much scholarship around this heritage. Jeanette Leech’s wonderful book Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk traces a vast cosmic tree of outré acoustic music from around the world, including many examples of the surprising crossover of entheogenic religious devotional music. But it barely features a mention of a Jewish contribution to the genre. Sure, you could point to “Solomon’s Song” from C.O.B.’s 1972 album Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart. But that’s one smudged dot on a massive map.
The final chapter of And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Our Vinyl, a book about Jewish LPs of yesteryear, dips a few toes into the water, pointing to some examples of frum folk rock—The Stanley Miller Band’s American Simcha or The Noam Singers’ The New Dimension in Hebrew Music. But that’s where the trail goes cold, and many of these documents never made it online. Forget about the ones they didn’t even mention: The Voices Four, Shimon & Ilana, Manguinot Bashira, the Beth Sholom Folk Rock Service’s Chants for Peace. Of these, you might find a clip or two online. Maybe.
And so it seems at least one corner of this day-glo forest remains shrouded in fog. But if you’ll allow, we’d like to guide you on a hidden path toward the world of psychedelic Jewish folk music.
Read the whole article here, and sample some works from Kinky Friedman, Victoria Hanna and Shmulik Kraus among others. A worthy read about a neglected scene.
[Music] erica freas — the sunday experience
I won’t deny that we’re a little taken with this nugget, a debut full length from Bristol bssed singer / songwriter Erica Freas entitled ‘young’. Available as a self-funded limited vinyl pressing sometime March where it’ll be lovingly coloured in a choice of blue or beer, blue being our chosen option, ‘red is’ has for […]
[Music] Dolores Mondo Stash – The Moonwake Syndrome
I’ve reviewed releases with short track times before, but when a release, in total, clocks in at about two minutes and twenty seconds, it had better be a commendable release if I am to review it.
It was.
Dolores Mondo Stash, a band out of Romania, keep the spirit of No wave alive with these two minuscule, yet punchy, tracks. Shades of DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and a hint of both early Wire and The Fall make this into something rather enjoyable to check out.
[Music] Speedometer – We Gave up Too Soon (feat. Vanessa Jamie)
Speedometer are a London-based quartet who give good groove in funk and soul music. They collaborate on a single track with singer Vanessa Jamie for a pleasantly soulful number.
[Music] Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Worlds Within
Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be admit to being a bit thrilled to mention this release. Some time ago, I reviewed a band called Flying Hórses, a band Raphael Weinroth-Browne was a member of, and whose stunning work on the cello made the album so memorable for me.
On January 24, he will release a new album which balances post-rock, contemporary classical music and the most tasteful aspects of metal. It would have never occurred to me to blend such aspects together, but Raphael weaves things together masterfully.
[Music] Robert Scott Thompson – Phonotopological
Since the weather has been hovering near the 10-degree Celsius mark this evening, now would be the perfect time to share a chilly, yet inviting, ambient album courtesy of the blog’s friend, Robert Scott Thompson. Though this release is available through Acousmatique Recordings, he also has his own Bandcamp site worth perusing.
[Music] E.E. Engström & The Twin Street Tree Trunk Love Ensemble – Small Town Curse
Darkjazz goes film noir. E.E. Engström & The Twin Street Tree Trunk Love Ensemble provide a gorgeous soundtrack to enjoy a dry martini with. Imagine the aforementioned Darkjazz mixed with something that would make Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (gone instrumental) proud, not to mention having a twang of creepy country. The vibe is dark, unsettling, and hopefully just a taste of what should be an amazing 2019 for the group.
Should you have a Spotify account, I suggest adding the group here.
[Music] Time Traveller – The Way Of The Iron Fist (Part 1)
It’s time to wrap up things for the end of the year, and the next couple of posts will help me close up shop for 2018. I want to thank Alberto Matsumura for his friendship and for sending me a loud, electro, proggy, Neu!-ish killer of a space-rock/techno mish-mash EP to enjoy.
[Music] Looking For The Balearic Beat / December 2018 — Ban Ban Ton Ton
Paraphrasing the Soul Sonic Force and sorting through today`s releases for tunes that could have graced Alfie & Leo`s Amnesia dance floor. JMS have reissued Henri Texier`s first two LPs. Amir from 1976, and Varech from 1977. The cover of the latter will be familiar to anyone who`s visited the Growing Bin, since Basso has […]
via Looking For The Balearic Beat / December 2018 — Ban Ban Ton Ton
What a wonderful blog they run! If you haven’t squandered all of your Christmas loot yet, Ban Ban Ton Ton have quite an impressive list of records you might want to consider adding to your collection, as well as a Mixcloud podcast to give you a sample of each.
