Kikagaku Moyo’s Stone Garden was one of my favorite releases of 2017. It’s a loud, heavy, psychedelic masterpiece in keeping with legendary bands like White Heaven or labels like P.S.F. Records.
[Podcast] Ottoman History Podcast – The Gardens of Mughal Kashmir
The Ottoman History Podcast is among the most intriguing weekly (or so) listens I indulge in. In this particular episode, hosts Nir Shafir and Polina Ivanova discuss gardening with landscape architect Jan Haenraets about this history of the region’s famed gardens, the political implications of conservancy and so on.
[Literature] James Joyce – The complete recordings (1924-29)
It’s only about twelve minutes worth of audio recordings, but Sub Rosa Records has published two pieces of James Joyce reciting some of his works from between 1924-1929.
[Music] Various Artists – Ibimeni : Garifuna traditional music from Guatemala
Sub Rosa released a compilation of Garifuna music recorded and produced by Juan Carlos Barrios (aka Radio Zumbido). It’s a wonderfully horn-and-lullaby laden compilation of wonderful music straddling between the Guatemalan border, Honduras, parts of Nicaragua and Belize, where African and indigenous cultures collide. Yet another stellar compilation.
[Music] Momo Wandel Soumah – Matchowé
Momo Wandel Soumah was a saxophonist and vocalist from Guinea who did a stunning job mixing jazz (especially that of the Charlie Parker and John Coltrane variety) with ethnic music from his region of the world. This session was recorded in 1991.
He passed away in 2003, but left this album as his legacy.
[Music] Canturbe – Flotteur
This disc was a wonderful find! Canturbe were an Argentian progressive rock band working out of Buenos Aires. Their sound is classic prog, but with touches of metal, folkloric music and even tango on one track. Argentine reissue specialists Viajero Inmovil have released another stunner.
[Music] The Gorehounds – Cargo Cult
The Gorehounds are, perhaps, Ireland’s finest rock band. No, U2 isn’t, sorry. They haven’t put out a great record since The Joshua Tree. These guys, rather, were a pure rock and roll band.
[Music] Mohammed M’Rabet & Paul Bowles – The Storyteller & the Fisherman
My first introduction to the world of Paul Bowles, as well as the Sub Rosa record label, was through this disc. The combination of stories read by Bowles himself, as well as the artwork and ambiance by storyteller Mohammed M’Rabet, made it wonderful bedtime listening, allowing me to transport my mind to what a hazy, stoned Tangier must have been like in the 1950s and 60s. This aged very nicely.
[Music] Sarolta Zalatnay – Hadd Mondjam El
How on Earth did I manage to miss Sarolta Zalatnay? She’s the Hungarian Janis Joplin, only funkier to my ears. She had the sound and the look to be an international star, but never quite pulled it off, unfortunately.
Josip Račić – Watercolours: Paris Through the Eyes of a Stranger
Beautiful art from Croatia.
We begin a new month – the pink, flowery and sweet May – with a new artist; Croatian painter Josip Račić (1885-1908) and the watercolours he painted during his brief stay in Paris in 1908.
Josip Račić, Park Luxembourg, 1907
On 10th February 1908, young Croatian artist Josip Račić arrived in Paris. Five months later he was found death in his room. A suicide. A mystery which gave birth to the romanticised myth of this tortured genius’s life. In his short yet turbulent artistic career, from humble beginnings to education in Munich and lastly, his short Parisian period, Račić, having died at the age of twenty-three, managed to create enough works to become a crucial figure for the development of Croatian Modern art and to pave way for the artists who followed.
Račić was born in a village near Zagreb in 1885 and attended grammar school for a short period…
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A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 