Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits – Two Richard Youngs Mixtapes

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.

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Essential Spiritual Jazz reissues: Horace Tapscott & Abdullah Sami

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.  

Peace and love.

 

Sunday Selection: Akofa Akoussah, Hoodna Orchestra, Derya Yilderim, Kamaal Williams, Dominique Guiot & Jungstötter

Lets go in for a tour of some lovely new and reissued records, that stuck my mind the last days at this stormy sunday.

Lets start with eclectic Soul from Togo by Akofa Akoussah whose sole Lp from 1974 with the same name is re-released by Mr. Bongo.

The LP is just around 27 minutes long but this half hours is so rich: 8 songs from afro beat, latin to fuzzy psychedelia. The highlight for me is an incredible heartbreaking ballad called “ramer sans rame“.

Listen to this lovely song via the  mr. bongo playlist though there´s no video.

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From Tel Aviv comes Hoodna Orchestra,  whose “Alem” 7″ in 2017 war an amazing mixture of afro, ethio jazz and oriental club sounds.

Here´s another great 7″ called “Ofel” (and listen to the weirdest prodigy cover on the flip side  I’ve ever heard up to now)

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Let´s continue with oriental tunes with a new EP by Hamburg / Berlin based Derya Yilderim & Grup Simsek out via Bongo Joe / Catapulte.

They continue the amazing melange of traditional turkish flavoured Saz – beats with 70ies psych – grooves like on their first outstanding EP Nem Caldi. Especially the instrumental “Kürk” is incredible.

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And here´s a new EP called “new heights” with two jazzy club tunes by Henry Wu aka Kamaal Williams out on black focus.

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Now to sth. completely different.

Jungstötter, (Fabian Alstötter from Austria)  formerly played in a quite boring pop band  Sizzar,  released an fantastic deep album called “Love is” (Rough trade/ PIAS) a few weeks ago and played some incredible sold out concerts in Berlin, Roter Salon, Leipzig (see video with soup and skin´s Anja Plaschk) and elsewhere, I unfortunately missed.

But listen to the LP and think of Mark Hollis, Scott Walker,Robert Wyatt or Nick Cave, which aren´t the worst references. He´s still on tour. Go see him if you can & get the LP. 

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At last, some space – kraut by french synth – pioneer Dominique Guiot whose L´universe de la Mer is rereleased by we release whatever the fuck we want 

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Visions of Otherness / Pirates Declare War – an Homage to the vanishing world of the cd-r culture

Streaming kills music & I´m afraid, as well the beauty of self & handmade designed cd – r´s, artist released, not having a proper label, often sold on tour in editions of 50 ex. or even less, sometimes with handwritten artwork or with a note by the artist.

So here are two mixtapes (a long and a short one) with different tracks taken from some of my beloved releases  exclusively (or first time) on cd-r´s, mostly released in the early 2000s – rare treasures, you won’t find on shazam or spotify

Please write or post some of your favorite cd- r ´s in the comments if you like!

the microphones / rozy plain / plankton wat / cam deas / high wolf / devendra banhart / visitations / c. ström / half asleep / sir richard bishop / desolation wilderness / kurt weisman / black moth super rainbow / tara jane o´neil / a.p. chapman / micah blue smalldone / thanksgiving / ducktails / julian lynch / bob corn / castle music / seabear / my two toms / moses nesh / frank fairfield / andre herman düne / jamie harrison / high wolf / silver pyre / sleeping states / pants yell / sandro perri / steve gunn / mv & ee / privacy / donovan quinn / cubs

2h 27 min,
by joe le taxi
8.3.2019

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w/ castlemusic / visitations / microphones / little wings / moses nesh / sean proper / tara jane o´ neil / natural snow buildings / c. ström / kurt weisman/ my brother the native / forest swords / dirty beaches/ jeffrey lewis & kimya dawson / andre herman dune / wave pictures/ pants yell / frank fairfield
– write me for detailed tracklist.

65 min,
by the little dog laughed
9.3.2019

 

ps. thanks for the dying for bad music blog for keeping the cd-r tradition after 2010 alive – four tracks of amazing cd-r´s are featured here – c.ström / sean proper / a.p.chapman & moses nesh,  all released by dying for bad music.

 

 

Ascention Day: Mark Hollis, Talk Talk & Rustin Man

The death of Mark Hollis is such a deep loss, no words can ever describe. His music with Talk Talk as well as his single solo release “Mark Hollis” are timeless treasures, eternal.

I remember, when I was a child, around 13,14 years old, I was a big fan of their synth pop singles like Such a Shame, It´s my life and Dum Dum Girl. Listening to the LP “The Colour of Spring” in 1986  was like a shock to me. I was disappointed and curious at the same time, listening to the songs over and over again like a maniac, looking desperately for a catchy phrase or a hit, but there was none. Just 8 complex songs, each around 5 – 7 Minutes.  I started to repeat them over and over again and slightly liked them and later, much later, really loved them.

When I lately had a deeper look at the sleeve, I found out, that I even stopped the time (digital 80ies alarm clocks!) of each song and wrote it by hand onto the sleeve like  “6:54” for “Happiness is Easy”. It seemed to me important. Another mysterious thing, that stuck my mind were the handwritten lyrics on the sleeve.

And the track “april 5th” the most fragil song I ever heard in my life since then – my birthday was april 2nd. Was there some connection? Stupid thoughts of a boy, hardly understanding anything of the english words.

Around 25 years later, I was djing at a Festival near Berlin called “Am Ende der Wald” and I had a slot around 3 – 6  a.m. in the morning at a lovely lake, in the middle of the woods. So I played some danceable tunes by forest swords or some hypnagogic tracks that were quite en vogue that time.

Then I put on the first tunes of “Lifes what you make it”, the only LP I took with me to the festival, that was older than lets say 3 years and I was really wondering, how 20 to 30 year old youngsters would react to a quite slow 25 year old track, but it worked out quite well: After a short moment of consideration, People started moving to the amazing bass line and later were really freaking out to the guitar riff, so a lot of people asked me for the name of the band and were quite surprised, when I said, it´s from 1986.   Never again, I saw people ecstatically dancing to such a melancholic tune like that time.

I guess many people can tell similar short stories about their first listening revelation of “The Colour of Spring “, “Spirit of Eden” or “The Laughing Stock”. I will not talk about the details of his musical genius, other writers are way better in that, e.g Rob Young in the Wire .

Just one thing: After having released two successful pop LP´s, changing the style so radically, consequently and in no way mainstream compatible is simply unique. As another commentary, I read lately wrote (sorry I forgot the name): With “Spirit of Eden” Mark Hollis brought the 80ies to an end.

Here she comes
Silent in her sound
Here she comes
Fresh upon the ground
Come gentle spring
Come at winter’s end
Gone is the pallor from a promise that’s nature’s gift
Waiting for the color of spring
Let me breathe
Let me breathe the color of spring
(April 5th)

 

Farewell Mark & thank you for the music!

 

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ps. Though the world has to move on, listen to the amazing mysterious Rustin Man release “Drift Code” LP, out via Domino Records in Europe by Rustin Man, aka Paul Webb, the bass player of Talk Talk, Think of Scott Walker, Robert Wyatt or even young David Bowie.

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ps. Here´s an old mixtape of mine re-up again with a rare b – side of talk´s life´s what you make it featured here and 65 years of music history as well..

* Ceremony of Dreams / It Comes with the Breezes (C60 Mixtape) *

This is a “C60″ Mixtape featuring on side A a mix of classical ambient tunes from 7”, I bought lately, some italian and french “Giallo” inspired film music tracks as well as outtakes and excerpts from the record “Ceremony of Dreams” by the Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble” that has been recently reissued by Tompkins Square .

On Side B, you´ll find more song – orientated folk & post punk tracks from recent tapes, reissues or rare 7″ – write me for detailed tracklist.

Hope you´ll like it.

by joe le taxi 02/19

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ps.
the cover is a photo still of the E. Holterbach “Leonore “7” featured here as well

Here are some songs, releases by Portlands amazing mama bird label some tracks are featured here in the mix

“Huis Clos” (Geschlossene Gesellschaft, J.P.Sartre) – Dysfunktionale Familienkonstellationen als Thema in aktuellen Kinofilmen

 

 

(German)

Kurz bevor die Berlinale morgen beginnt, eine kurze Reflexion über die letzten Kinofilme, die ich gesehen habe.

Roma, Shoplifters, Rafiki and Capernaum

Auffällig, dass diese alle geprägt sind – direkt oder indirekt – von dysfunktionalen Familienverhältnissen. Es sind meiner Ansicht nach alle wundervolle komplexe Filme, die in völlig verschiedenen Zeiten und Gegenden der Welt spielen, (Mexiko in den 70ern, Japan, Libanon und Kenia in der heutigen Zeit) und völlig unterschiedliche Themen beinhalten, jedoch deren Protagonisten alle unter einer nicht funktionierendem oder nicht gesellschaftlich akzeptierten Familienkonstellation leiden.

Es sind immer die politischen, gesellschaftlichen und sozialen Verhältnisse ausschlaggebend, auf die die Akteure reagieren müssen. In Roma hält das Kindermädchen Cleo die gesamte mexikanische Mittelstandsfamilie zusammen, selbst als der Mann die Familie verlässt, bleibt sie der Ruhepunkt der Geschichte – obwohl sie zukünftig selbst alleinerziehend ihr Kind ernähren werden muss, da der Vater ihres Kindes die Militärputschisten unterstützt.

In Rafiki leiden die jungen verliebten Frauen Kena und Ziki an der kenianischen homophonen Gesellschaft und deren christianisierten “Religionswächtern”, die eine gemeinsame Zukunft für beide in Kenia unmöglich erscheinen lässt. Shoplifters und Capernaum erzählen die Möglichkeit ungewöhnlicher familiärer Konstellationen, die zwangsweise aus den Verhältnissen erwachsen – und am Ende an diesen zerbrechen.

Wie der 12-jährige Junge Zain in den Slums von Beirut zunächst mit der illegalen Einwanderin Rahil zusammenlebt und dann alleine für ihr Kleinkind Yonas sorgt ist jedoch ebenso ergreifend anzusehen, wie in der durchstrukturierten hochmodernen japanischen Gesellschaft eine Patchworkfamilie versucht zu überleben am Rande der Gesellschaft.

Zains Anklage in Capernaum , gegen seine Eltern, ihn auf die Welt gebracht zu haben ohne Verantwortung für ihn und seine Schwester Selin (die zuvor zwangsverheiratet wurde und infolgedessen starb) übernehmen zu können ist die Anklage aller Filme, die tradierten oder nicht beweglichen Familienverhältnisse einer geschlossenen Gesellschaft (Huis Clos, J.P.Sartre )zu überdenken und sie neu zu denken.

Lesenswerte auch das ausführliche interview mir der Regisseurin Nadine Labaki auf indiekino.de übern die schwierige Entstehung des Films Capernaum, die Arbeit mit den grossartigen Laiendarstellern und die Einkehr der Realität, als die Polizei die Hauptdarstellerin von Rahil tatsächlich verhaftete wegen irrregulären Aufenthalts. (ab S.10).

Alle Filme sind noch in Berliner Kinos zu sehen, Roma zudem auf Netflix.(Letzterer ist nicht nur wegen der unglaublichen Bildsprache sondern auch wegen seiner atmosphärischen Tonspur im übrigen sehens- & hörenswert)