2019 is off to a flying start!
Several of my favorite musicians and/or composers are quite actively broadening their catalogs, and our old friend, Abquexa (among his many aliases) has returned to the blog with a disc that could be described as ‘avant-pop’. The tunes fit the normal song structure, but the weirdness in each track makes for very intriguing listening.
I have a deep interest in Old Prussian culture, as a thread of my own ancestry comes from the region now known as Kaliningard, though it was once East Prussia. I’m impressed to see that some bands are trying hard to preserve the culture.
All credit for the music of Āustras Laīwan goes to Aleks Āulaukis, ably assisted by Anna Dushkina on viola and vocals, and by Aleksey Stepuchev, who plays trumpet.
This one sure as hell isn’t an ethnographic recording. It’s more along the lines of good, old-fashioned acid-psych. Start with the name of the band, for instance. Khana Bierbood translates as Strange Brew in Thai, and you can hear the heavy cosmic vibes throughout this record. What adds an extra notch to its cool factor is that it was produced by Go Kurosawa of Kikagaku Moyo, perhaps the best psychedelic folk band to come of Japan since Masaki Batoh’s Ghost. I wonder what other monsters Thailand is hiding musically?
One of the beautiful things about scouring the net, including sources like Bandcamp, Youtube and Soundcloud, is that you’ll run into scenes of music you had no idea existed just a few years ago.
A fine case in point is this 4-track EP of edits from Hot Casa Records. This compilation features tracks from the West African country of Togo’s disco scene, and it holds its own when compared to heavyweights from the US and Europe during the 1970s.
Bosq and DJ Pushin Wood remix the first two tracks, and the others are previously unreleased according Hot Casa’s Bandcamp page.
Ian Nagoski of Canary Records has released yet another amazing artifact of turn-of-the-century Armenian music. This was the label’s last release of 2018. Here’s hoping that 2019 will see a continuation the release of such archival treasures.
On January 7th, Marc Masters of Bandcamp Daily posted a very interesting synopsis of experimental music coming out of Indonesia these days. I was aware of the amazing progressive rock, jazz and fusion coming from the region, but it’s good to see Hasana Editions shepherd the experimental scene out of obscurity. Adding to the ‘cool’ factor is that the first four releases have been published as cassettes.
Though I loathe that I can’t simply buy a download from Edward Ka-Spel (too many of his latest Bandcamp releases are truncated version so that you’re forced to buy a hard copy, be it vinyl or CD), that’s his prerogative. The music is up to the standards one expects from the Legendary Pink Dots‘ frontman.
Stephen Witt of Buzzfeed contributes an article of 9 masterpieces, including this Godspeed You! Black Emperor (alleged) rarity and the Norman Thomas di Giovanni translations (shamefully not made public) of Jorge Luis Borges’ work. His translations are superior to all over English versions.
How cool. I had no idea The Beatles were the (accidental) inventors of the secret track!
Here’s more, courtesy of Jude Rogers at The Guardian.
Unlike a great deal of my colleagues, I’m not a vinyl snob. Yes, it sounds wonderful for rock and jazz, but as I enjoy listening to classical and experimental music, I like the idea that I can hear such things with clarity.
That being said, the great Neil Young, himself a fan of technology, has started a service dedicated to audiophiles. PonoMusic (not quite ready for launch yet) is the name of his new venture, and it will be launched on Kickstarter this week.
Upstart Business Journal has more on this wonderful development here.
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