Last week I got a package from Californians´ Gnome Life Records with the fantastic new record by Little Wings called ” People” and a tape by Fountainsun. So here´s a mixtape with some melancholic late summer folk tracks combined with a few latin picks by the amazing compilations Venezuela 70 pt. II & Jambu e os misticos sons de amazonia
w./
little wings / fountainsun, durutti column, arthur verocai, vitas brenner, fernando yvosky, gropo da pesada, lake, Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah, Joseph Allred, Heyden Pedigo
by the little dog laughed
8/19
40 min.
cover is a still of the little wings lp “people ”
Northern Spy released recently “From Untruth”, the second LP by Amirtha Kidambi´s Ensemble Elder Ones after the 2016 CD only release “Holy Science”.
These 4 Tracks are called: eat the rich / dance of the subaltern / decolonize the mind / from untruth – and so is the political agenda of this amazing record. Power, colonialism, capitalism, black consciousness, truth / untruth.
And as divers is the music: There are free jazz elements, spoken word parts, a scattered singing (This approach is called is a so called carnatic musical singing style with hindu influences) of Amirtha Kidambi in literally 3 octaves like in Eat the Rich, sometimes her voice and way of singing reminds of Matana Roberts, sometimes more of an classical opera singer, sometimes whispering and crying to the instruments.
The leading track of this record is to my point of view is the track “dance of the subaltern”, starting with an smooth voice intro and then after 2, 3 minutes the keys, the bass and the drums beginn and the voice is screaming in a tour de force parcour together with the soprano sax:
my rights are the leaves trampled upon by the feed of armies – your rights are the leaves trampled upon by the feed of armies
The music is surely uneasy to listen to, there is no relief with these issues and themes, there are no clear song structures, there has be these breaks and tensions, it is sometimes like a free jazz impro – but then there are beautiful harmonic melodic parts like the end of this track with the chorus:
Carried by the ocean we will rise / Buried by the ocean we will drown
We will rise / We will drown
As beautiful is the chorus and the saxophone parts in the middle of the song From Untruth
from darkness into light / from death into living
It is a kind of bipolar soundtrack of these days political debates and the ongoing transformations in the society, told in an amazing musical language.
And it´s a statement -a dance of the subaltern. We won´t be silent.
Mesmerizing.
A Summer mixtape starting with folk & singer songwriter tunes continuing with more reggae, soul & uptempo songs ending with a sun ra track, the title is taken from – all cuts from vinyl – enjoy !
Diane Denoir & Eduardo Mateo / Barna Howard / Ilgen Nur / Sun Ra / Myriam Gendron / Temples / Os Mutantes / Malouni / Derya Yildirim / Wlliie Wright / the Cranes / Altin Gün / Ernest Ranglin / Winston McAnuff / Doug Carn / Burnt Ones / Desmond Dekker
This time the focus is on black political jazz, mostly from the 70ies but as well featuring new releases by Makaya Mc Craven, The Last Poets or by Johannesburg´s Spaza, whose amazing debut is being released next week.
with tracks & excerpts by :
Sun Ra / Brother Ah / Sarah Webster Fabio / Spaza / Abdullah Sami /
The Ensemble El Salaam / Philip Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble / The Last Poets / Makaya Mc Craven / Ndikho Xaba & The Natives / Walt Bolen / Doug Carn / The Awakening / Horace Tapscott & The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra / Philip Cohran & the Hyptotic Brass Ensemble / Pharoah Sanders / Gil Scott – Heron
by joe le taxi
06/19
foto is a still from a
Pharaoh Sanders LP
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Listen to the amazing eclectic Spaza – Spaza LP from South Africa, released on the Label Mushroom Hour Half Hour 21. June 19
Conceived in the Mushroom Hour Half Hour lab, SPAZA is a band with no permanent personnel, with each lineup assembled for the express purpose of recording once-off improvised or workshopped material. For this, the initial salvo, SPAZA was put together from a group of musicians with individual and collective links to Johannesburg’s jazz, afro funk and experimental electro scenes.
In the context of this completely improvised album, the term “spaza” not only refers to the gallery in Troyeville, Johannesburg where this project was recorded live (and in one take) in the autumn of 2015, but to South Africa’s thousands of informal neighbourhood stores.
In South Africa, “spaza” has come to signify an entrepreneurial spirit, especially in the country’s black townships where economic barriers to business ownership mean that only a few can attain the status of formal business ownership. In the country’s socio-political context, spazas, usually operating out of converted garages, shacks or repurposed shipping containers, are also contested territories. They are sites of often fatal bloodshed where financially disenfranchised South Africans routinely mete out their frustrations on those they consider “foreigners” and “outsiders”. It is these outsiders who have come to dominate the spaza economy. However, spazas are also colourful, with their facades branded, styled and designed by each owner. They can become the nerve centres of social activity in the communities they occupy and are often stocked with an array of iconic South African brands and products, many of which are referenced in the track names of this album.
In early spring, I travelled through the baltic states and was thrilled by the landscape, the spirit with its mix of post-modernity and tradition. In the national library of Riga there was an amazing exhibition about the alternative music scene of Latvia, curated by a radio dj.
I took the leaflet of it and did some research on the mentioned bands, some of them featured here in this mix.
Another focus is the tape label “stoned to death” from the Czech Republic, I boughed today some tapes with mostly recent avandgarde music. The mix is embraced with some Eastern European “american primitive guitar” music, some neo-classic from Poland and as well some songs by Victor Tsoi from the legendary russian band KINO (Кино).
with:
Jakub Šimanský
Šimanský Niesner
Māris Šverns
Martas Asinis
Viktor Tsoi / Кино (Виктор Цой)
Depo
Alva
Parks
Juris Simanovičs
Altbau
Aurora
Václav Havelka III
Stara Rzeka
Lubomyr Melnyk
by joe le taxi
05/19
1h.47 min
Photos taken in latvia, Riga and Naringa, Lithuania
A short compendium into the amazing world of Glasgows experimental songwriter Richard Youngs, who releases since more than 30 years incredible albums mostly under the radar.
(Pt.1.)Thoughts of Collapsing Stars
Tracklist:
The World Is Silence In Your Head (making paper, 2001)
Summer Through My Mind (s/t, 2013)
100 Stranded Horses (autumn response, 2007)
Advent (s/t, 1990)
A song for the Spanish Anarchists (Simon Wickham-Smith & Richard Youngs, Ceausescu, 1992)
Trees That Fall (May, 2002)
The Sea is Madness (Festival, 1994)
Furrows Again (amplifying host, 2011)
Paradise Begun (Dissident, 2019)
Inside The Future (s/t, 2018)
We Are The Messengers (Core to the brave, 2012)
Filling My Mind With Stars (Dissident, 2019)
Nebulosity (Belief, 2018)
The Welcome Sailor – Richard Youngs (Migrating bird – a Lal Waterson tribute, 2007)
Once it was Autumn (the Naive Shaman, 2005)
Back from a World Changing (Inside the Future, 2018)
by the little dog laughed,
may 19
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The second part of the personal little Richard Youngs Selection with some of my beloved tracks, beyond the valley of untrahits. The second part is more focussed on unknown tracks and releases and in the end features three longer experimental songs.
Sonar in my Soul (pt.2)
Tracklist:
Low Bay of Sky (Autumn Response, 2007)
Bewilderment (Belief, 2018)
Come hear us now (KRAAK festival sampler 2001)
Mercury Lane (Long White Cloud, 2011)
Sonar in my soul (the naive shaman, 2005)
Summer Void (Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits)
Collapsing Stars (Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits)
Like An Astronaut (the Rest in Scenery, 2016)
Life On A Stream (Airs Of The Ear, 2003)
Joy Ride (Atlas of Hearts, 2011)
Soon It Will Be Fire (Sapphie, 1998)
Something like (Autumn Response, 2007)
Only Haligonian (Making Paper, 2001)
by the little dog laughed
may,19
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Listen to his amazing latest album dissident (glass modern), two songs are featured as well in the mixtapes.
Thanks to the effort of the london based labels spirit muse records and outer national sounds some of the essential LP´s by Horace Tapscott with the Pan Afrikan Peoples´s Archestra and the sole record “Peace of time” by Abdullah Sami are being reissued and available for the first time since their release in the late 70ies.
Listen to the three LP´s by the amazing Horace Tapscott here: (the first Debut LP “flight 17” is released soon in late april), the other Lp´s are already available. I hope other Tapscott milestones like “the giant is awakened” with the Horace Tapscott Quintet realeased in 1969 by flying dutchmen will soon follow so nobody has to pay hundreds of euros or dollars to get hold of essential spiritual jazz records !
Concerning the “Peace of Time” release, the story, how the label mates of spirit muse found the LP once a few years ago somewhere without sleeve and tried desperate to find the artist and finally succeeded, as you can read in the bandcamp site above and as well in the inner liner notes – is thrilling and as well good to hear, that half of the money of this reissue goes directly to Abdullah Sami, whose very unique saxophone tunes deserved a broader audience.
joe le taxi