Top Ten Time!

It's that time of the year! Put up christmas lights, air your grievances, and post your top ten lists online in front of god and everybody. I really enjoyed Erik's review of good dj mixes for the year, I think I listened to that Johnny Nash mix way more than the doctor ordered.

So, let's put an end to revisionist history right here by posting our top tens up before everyone else does. After seeing everyone else's lists I always want to pretend like I listened to something way more legit than I really did.

More realistically, I had to put together a list a week ago, so I'm not leaving much hope for the releases of the month of December. However, those Academy reissues of SJOB Movement and Mebusas are real hot. That and the Nosmoke release of the Ngozi Family LP 45,000 Volts is so good, I may like it more than the Chrissy Zebby Tembo and the Ngozi Family LP from last year. Super heavy on the Sabbath riffage and still throwing down some traditional Zambian percussion and language in between is about as essential as they come.

Because I spent a ton more time on reissues than new music this year, I will start the list off there.

Reissues:
V/A Ouga Affair (Disques Savannahphone)
V/A Take Me To The Water (Dust-to-Digital)
V/A Psych Funk 101 & School Me Volume One (STA)- Strong start for an oddball label!
Alan Lomax in Haiti (Harte)
Mortika: Recordings from the Greek underground (Mississippi)
The Units -History of (Community Library)
The Durutti Column Box Set (Kooky)
Death… For the Whole World to See (Drag City)
Ofege – Try and Love (Academy)
Jerusalem - Jerusalem (Vintage)


As always, many <3’s to Analog Africa, Honest Jon’s, Monk, and Norton (particularly those early Sun Ra Doo Wop jamz and "I am Strange" 7".


New Releases: No Particular Order

Julianna Barwick - Florine (Self-Released)
Desire (Italians Do it Better)
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II (Eskimo)
William Fowler Collins - Perdition Hill Radio (Type)
Dam Funk - Toeachizown (Stones Throw)
Ducktails - Landscapes (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Music Go Music - Expressions (Secretly Canadian)
Ata Ebtekar &The Iranian Orchestra for New Music Performing Works of Alireza Mashayikhi - Ornamentalism (Sub Rosa)
Neal Morgan – To the Breathing World (self released)
Life’s Blood releases 001: Cole’s Gifts and 003: The Endless Bummer’s Modern American Calypsos For Voice and Computer

Record digging highlights for 09: Gems from the bargain bin
Willie Guy Rainey - s/t (Southland Records)
The Sufi Dance & Song Record, San Francisco CA (Rainbow Bridge Distro)
Kitaro - Ten Kai aka Astral Voyage (Wergo/Spectrum)
Level 42 - Starchild (Polydor)
Manhar Udhas - Aagman (Super Cassette Industries)

A friend of mine asked me to do a "balearic" set at his party. Not sure he knew what I knew, but I found that song just in time and squeezed it between this great cheeseball gypsy disco song called "sandstorm" and some Japanese folk ragas. Turns out doing a "balearic" set is a good way to loose friends who DJ Detroit techno using Serato the rest of the night. Saved myself by pulling out a Ricardo Villalobos suite and getting the hell out of there. I wish I could've recorded my set, I would have posted it. It was fun, switching off with a kid who showed up with a bag of Chicago house records (many of which he preferred to play at 33 rpm?).

That wraps it up for me. Miss you dudes. I'll be in CA for the holidays, and I think I am going to the Rickshaw Stop for New Years. Hopefully be able to see you guys when I'm out there, nerd out and listen to some records!

We will miss you Jack Rose!

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Jack Rose's family and friends. I was very sad to get a call and hear that Jack Rose passed away. He will be missed out here in Philadelphia, as he was an extremely talented and inspired musician, and I am sure he will be missed even more by his family and friends. The likes of his self titled LP on Tequila Sunrise and his seminal Kensington Blues as well as his work with Pelt are wonderful artifacts to remember him by. Here he is playing his classic "Kensington Blues."

Let Us Give Thanks For Hella Rad Mixes

YO DUDEZ. It sure has been awhile. Kinda awkward how we have to start the majority of our posts here with that disclaimer :(

BUT HEY GUESS WHAT I found some rad mixes. I know you all probably hear me talk about stuff like Beats in Space and Resident Advisor and think "Shut the fuck up about your gay techno shit Erik." And hey that's ok, but stop being a douche and actually check these out. It's not all 'hella gay techno shit' per se, but y'know sometimes it is so EMBRACE IT. I'm basically using this post as an outlet to list my favorite mixes of the past year or so (as well as an outlet to abuse the use of UPPER CASE TEXT), and maybe I can even almost make up for my recent drought of posting with this flood of goodness.

So FIRST UP- gotta support my broheims, and this mix from my SF dudepal Jason has been on constant rotation in, err, my apartment for months now. Runs the gamut from the pastoral psychedelic organ perfection of Bo Hansson to obscure '70s folky prog gems by Jade Warrior to the pan-global pop fusion of Masami Tsuchiya (featuring the fretless bass stylings of Mr. Mick Karn) to rad cosmic noodly synth shit like Tagerine Dream and Steve Hillage. And it's all tied together with field recordings and spoken word passages and the like, so FUCK beatmatching. At least temporarily.

Robots in Heat - Obscured by Crowds mp3
tracklisting

NEXT- my vote for mix of the year that wasn't made by one of my DJ friends, but rather by a Parisian fellow by the name of Vidal Benjamin. I have been forcefeeding this to pretty much everyone so apologies if this is redundant, but GOOD GOD is this mix awesome. Dude carves out a pretty well-defined vision of oddball balearica, but he wisely avoids being weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird in favor of selecting tracks that are amazing and just happen to be really weird. No tracklist yet, but you may recognize the Guy Cuevas number here from the 'Funky Nassau' comp that came out last year. Otherwise prepare for some dope 80's reggae-pop, weird loping disco with what sounds like children singing about E.T. atop it, french synth-wave, and other great tracks I wish I knew enough about to say anything meaningful. Oh and this is hosted on the same site as Jason's mix- a mix-blog called Noncollective (no payola honest), definitely worth checking out.

Vidal Benjamin - Balearic Nightmare

OK so now something a little more house-y; Belgian duo Aeroplane have been releasing monthly 'mixed' mixes (not just playlists) of their favorite newer tracks since June, and pretty much everything they've done has been a thoroughly enjoyable blend of populist yet tasteful electro-house dance JAMZ (tho maybe avoid the August one, tbh). Seriously I've discovered some impressive recent tunes and remixes from these and they're actually pretty varied from month to month so check 'em out. (Actually looks like everything before September is no longer hosted by Soundcloud, so grab them while you still can)

Aeroplane - Monthy Mix Chart September 09
Aeroplane - Monthy Mix Chart October 09
Aeroplane - Monthy Mix Chart November 09

ANOTHER fine mix in 2009 came from idiosyncratic producers Ronny and Renzo for one of my fave blogs- Cosmic Disco. It's full of fantastic psychedelic disco edits, tribal drums, deep house, and various other seemingly unrelated ephemera that still wind up sounding pretty seamless side-by-side. And AGAIN no tracklist here, but do you really need one? Don't be pussies guys.

Ronny and Renzo Mix for Cosmic Disco

And here's the part where I risk looking like a dork and talk about PODCASTS. Seriously all of you should subscribe to Beats in Space, it's insane. Tim Sweeney is an amazing DJ, it's been around for 10 years now and he consistently has the best DJs in the world come on each week. And it's just a college radio show at WNYU, so you even get to hear his uncomfortable nerdly voice at the beginning of every mix (...eh?!). My favorites this year are from Tensnake- an amazing house producer whose mix starts out vintage balearic and quickly proceeds to indulge in vintage diva house, Rub- N-Tug- who are gods among disco-house DJ mortals, KZA- a Japanese producer who nicely bridges balearica nu and old, Johnny Nash- another Japanese dude who instead geeks out on new age and a supremely funky Don Cherry cut, and DJ Strangefruit- one of the masterminds of Mungolian Jetset who turns out a fairly epic two-parter. OOOH and don't forget about the Aeroplane (yes more) one from last month which goes kinda all out on the italo front. And that's kinda just the icing on the cake, lately every week has been good folks.

(NOTE: I'm linking to the tracklists here, for convenience purposes. Download and streaming links are on the right)

Aeroplane on Beats in Space
Johnny Nash on Beats in Space
Strangefruit on Beats in Space
KZA on Beats in Space
Tensnake on Beats in Space
Rub-N-Tug on Beats in Space

There are also lots of great Resident Advisor podcasts that are no longer hosted on their site, as well as phenomenal commercial mixes that I can upload in my next post if you guys are interested. Just thought I'd keep it simple and use other people's links tonight. Plus I'm tired. Hope you guys enjoy...

Rocktober: The Axman Swings His Blade

Can't let a Rocktober pass without some offering to the deities of rock's past. The eighteen year old dorm room rebel that blared Black Sabbath, Slayer, and Led Zeppelin with unabashed adoration is jumping out of me as I follow the stonerific releases from White Hills and Gnod. In name of the fall, in name of girls named Autumn, beards, and looking back at our American heritage, I invested in the releases of Vintage Records, a subsidiary of Rockadrome in Texas. They've been releasing some spectacular reissues of collector item hard rock LPs from the seventies and eighties that strike you right in the stoner bone. Only lame part is that they are on CD, so it is harder to pretend that it actually is 1974, you actually are stoned, and you are just deciding that the hardest rock of all is named metal.

First, hailing from the invincible Camden, NJ (Represent!), recent guest to Bon Jovi's playground build, hails Negative Space who recorded the landmark LP Hard, Heavy, Mean, and Evil in 1970. Fantastic reissue of the dream high school band, digging into some of the hard rock masterpieces of the time like "Johnny B. Goode" and "Purple Haze," these kids took cues from all the right places. So what if they are not sure exactly how to play in the same key as the rest of the band. So what if the drummer drums to his own tempo. This is rock and roll at a gritty and raw reality. The kind that can't be taught. Lester Bangs said that "grossness was the truest criterion for rock 'n' roll, the cruder the clang and grind the more fun and longer listened-to the album'd be." I agree. These kids were definitely on to something, and you will spot this record in Trenton fetching a mighty high fee, despite the fact that it is mostly garbage. I mean treasure. The first eight tracks are the most inspired, from the original LP.

Negative Space - Hard, Heavy, Mean, and Evil

Beyond the reissue, it looks like these guys reincarnated as a hard rock tribute band of the same name. so good. my favorite part of this video is the commentary arguing about whether one band member is a nerd or not.

Another great release from Vintage Records is the reissue of Iron Claw. Iron Claw is a Scottish roots-rock band that grinds out some burners, psychedelic blues rock in its purest. Their release Dismorphobia is fantastic. Though they were supposedly a Black Sabbath cover band for much of their career, their LP from 1970 is golden metal. If my internet was working better I'd upload that too. Maybe I will update this post with it soon enough.

Columbus Day

Columbus incited the annihilation of the 3 million Taino people of Haiti. Happy day off!

Five hundred years later Alan Lomax visited Haiti to document the music of a displaced people. Anthropologically the music connects the polyrhythmic essentials behind blues and jazz with African music. Some historians argue that due to the nature of slavery in the Caribbean, African culture was not subject to the same paternalism as in America (where drumming was outlawed for fears of rebellion). Coupled with the successful rebellion that formed the first black republic in the world, music in Haiti remained distinctly African. By the time Lomax records this, the music evolved to include elements of Highlife and Cumbias. Musically this is sounds like early Cajun music, cumbias, Dominican merengues, and fife and drum. Harte Records 102 will be a ten CD box set of Lomax's Haitian field recordings. Here is a taste.

ps: TURN IT UP!

Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Tell You performed by Dave Paul, originally recorded by the Bee Gees.

















The Difference Between Mechanized Reverb and Delay

Delay attempts a perfect echo; reverb attempts a natural one.

A delay device, like a pedal, will try to replicate or sample and repeat the sound being sent to it at timed intervals, most through a chip called a bucket brigade. The invention of this in the 1970s lead to the development and concept of the charge-coupled device, or CCD, which is in every digital camera or video capture device. However, there are limits to the fidelity of the devices, and even sophisticated tape delays, which use a series of magnetic tape recorders to sample and loop the sound like the Gibson Echoplex, will colour and change the sound of the repeats from the original.

Mechanical reverb was first built for the Hammond electric organ when it started being used in homes and smaller churches. Pipe organs were always accompanied by a large reverberation, and it was thought any organ must have that large cascading sound of a shout heard on high. The solution of how to create echo in a small space was to bounce the instrument's electrical sound around inside a metal spring, as in spring reverb, or across a metal pan, in plate reverb, and have it come back to you after being bounced around.

These are just for analog types of delay and reverb. If we were to start talking about digital types of the same effects, the point becomes moot, as digital emulations are essentially virtual sound, and not real.


Elijah James Santoyo
www.myspace.com/perfectrack

Sofrito Mixes

So.... guys.... remember this blog we started? Well, I am going to try to start throwing more posts up here. Plus, remember how great you all are? I mean, you guys are like the best there ever was, and this public forum gives us a voice to share our awesomeness from afar. You guys know soooo much about music, but I don't see you posting..... What's up with that? Its not like I can read Wire and pretend like they are my friends, but you guys are my friends, and I want to read about what you like.

Gushing aside, this post is simply a posting to put up a new link. Erik and I both snagged the Tropical Discotheque 12"s in 2008, and the Sofrito group are back with some more latin disco edit gold. I walked into my local haunt and saw this one on the wall.

Another smash hit 12", a summer scorcher that I will toast as a winter dancefloor Afro oasis for my livingroom. After listening to it a few times, I checked out their website and low and behold, it is filled to the brim with spectacular mixes of just this kind of funkytropicaldancespecials, links to other tropical websites, and even pictures of people having a good tropical time. Oh, and the best part is that they post TRACK LISTINGS! So, next time you are in Nigeria, you will know exactly what you are looking for. I'm sure Erik would have posted this, but didn't want to offend us by posting something we all of course knew about and relished, but I just got the tip on it this afternoon. So I've spent the afternoon listening to Sofrito mixes and drinking mango smoothies as summer slowly fades to fall here in Philadelphia. One things is for sure, and that is that these mixes will make me the hit of tomorrow's regional Puerto Rican Day parade.

VAMOS A LA PLAYA

I have been obsessed with all things balearic for a year or two now, and I'm realizing I really haven't yet imparted any knowledge about the legit old-school stuff to you dudes on this blog. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but pieces like this one at DJ History certainly sparked my interest in the stuff, and I've been trying to fill in all the blanks to this mythical genre ever since. 'Balearic' is so mysterious a term that it can signify anything from spacey komische krautiness like Ashra to new-agey guys like Kitaro to questionable eighties pop like Phil Collins. It is about recontextualizing pretty much any type of music- seriously it could be classical or industrial or minimal composition or smooth jazz- into something that nonetheless has a distinctive, undefinable "feeling". So yeah, it's the kind of thing where people will say, "it's not a genre, it's a feeling" and they're actually kind of right.


But don't let that dissuade you. There is something for everyone under the balearic umbrella, and I think you guys may particularly dig these mixes from Jose Padilla, from the legendary Cafe Del Mar in Ibiza. Cafe Del Mar has a reputation for their sunsets, and if you combine this with the immaculate/cheesy interior and the evocative music on mixes like this you get a pretty damn good feeling of what these vibes are all about. The DJs would provide an intensely mellow soundtrack for most of the evening, and when the sun would finally go down they would attempt to peak their music in a variety of ways- whether it be with a rise in tempo or just by releasing building tension in the music. You definitely hear the more ambient/new-age/moody side of things with this first mixtape, which I found on the Dj History forums...


Jose Padilla - Cafe del Mar Mixtape #27

pieced-together tracklisting...

01 - Kilar Wojciech - Love Remembered
02 - ?
03 - Kitaro - Tunhuang
04 - Ennio Morricone - For Love One Can Die
05 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Song Lines
06 - Wim Mertens - Close Cover
07 - This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
08 - Ulvi - Kudsi Erguner (with whale noises over top)
09 - Ennio Morricone - Gott mit uns (?)
10 - Art of Noise - Crusoe
11 - Art of Noise - Island
12 - Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dynamite
13 - excerpt from 'The Cook Thief Wife and his Lover'
14 - Ennio Morricone - Cockeye's Song
15 - Amorphous Androgynous - Mountain Goat
16 - Brian Eno - From The Same Hill
17 - Ennio Morricone - Deborah's Theme (whale noises again)
18 - ?
19 - Mark Isham - Theme from Mrs Soffell
20 - Frank de Wulf - The End

This next one I found on the excellent Test Pressing blog, and has much more drive to it than the last- I think a drumbeat or two actually make an appearance here! I don't have a tracklisting as of now, but I DEFO spotted not only Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" but also a kickin' smooth jazz instrumental version of "Mercy Mercy Me", along with more field recordings and other similarly awesome tunes.

Jose Padilla - Cafe Del Mar Mixtape # 7

25 Most Underrated Guitarists of All Time

Ok, so the title is a parody of Rolling Stone's comprehensive critical perspective on the nature of guitar heroes. So, until my deluxe John Mayer triple LP boxset arrives in the mail, I'll have to settle for some lesser known guitar gods.

Charlie Parr. This guy sounds like he should have been on Takoma in the early sixties. And Parr definitely should be on Tompkin Square's Imaginational Anthem compilation featuring Max Ochs (Phill's cousin)Glen Jones, Jack Rose et al. I happen to be a fan of Jack Rose, and relocating to Philly only helped that. However, sometimes Rose and Jones' technical wizardry masks the downhome nuances and idiosyncrasies that tend to personalize and immortalizeguitarists. Charlie Parr spins such downhome blues that you might be related to him. So, since gods are immortal and guitar gods are immortal, and Charlie Parr kicks major ass so who cares about his time in the limelight because he'll have eternal life in heavens stage lights. I guess his d.i.y ethos is so strong that it boosts his street cred, but his street cred rarely leaves the street. So check out this video and dig.

He'll be in San Francisco for a rare out of state performance on July 26th, so make the pilgrimage. Plus, my reasoning could be wrong because according to Rolling Stone, Charlie Parr is not an accredited guitar god. That means Charlie Parr might eventually die. If you don't go see him, it would be like passing on seeing a Woolly Mammoth because they'll "always be around."

Porter Records

I haven't posted on here for a while, but i'm back and unemployed, so here we go.

I've been following Porter Records' releases for a while, their catalog includes everything from free jazz to r&b to folk. Othermusic compares them to ESPdisc. The artist they've put records out for include jeweled antler collective, fred lonberg holm, hexlove, ras g etc etc. These albums are hard to track down in the torrent/blogosphere, but luckily they released a sampler with other music digital. It's free, and you can find it HERE. Check it ... I found the birigwa and natural food albums in the clearance bin at amoeba, I can post them if you guys want. Also you can listen to the entire Zenlo album from this blue box on his myspace. pretty cool

Diversification of my Blogfolio

Vinyl rips seem to be popular around here lately, so I thought I'd share an album I recently transferred to digital for you dudes.



I recently discovered the 'Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story' compilation Strut released last year, which chronicles Island Records mastermind Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studio- based in Nassau, Jamaica. Many hit records of the 70s and early 80s were cut at this studio, but a certain contingent of studio musicians and producers carved out a unique sound there and eventually became known as the 'Compass Point All Stars.' This loosely-defined group was basically the house band for the studio, a Jamaican Nashville of sorts that instead focused on a dub-tinged pop/rock/funk/disco hybrid music. Many recognizable songs and influential albums were associated with the group- which consisted of duo Sly and Robbie on drums and bass, synth-guru/keyboardist Wally Badarou, and several other noteworthy session musicians. Their recordings include hit albums by Grace Jones, the Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Gregory Isaacs, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer, and a bevy of other notables.

Not too long ago I picked up the album soul/disco vocalist Gwen Guthrie recorded with the All Stars, which was produced by Sly + Robbie and features mixes by DJ legend Larry Levan. It's actually more like a mini-album, but features plenty of great material nonetheless- including jams like "Getting Hot" and "Seventh Heaven". See for yourself:

Gwen Guthrie - Padlock

01. Hopscotch
02. Seventh Heaven
03. Getting Hot
04. Getting Hot (prelude)
05. Peanut Butter
06. Padlock

ALSO--- I don't mean to be all spammy, but I'd really like to announce that I recently began writing for a new blog, which will likely end up taking the place of that new one I announced a few posts back. It's called Disco Horror, which (as you may have guessed) is all about house/beardo/disco/balearic type jams and is more of a traditional, single-track-posting kind of blog. It's updated quite often, and you can always trust that the stuff they post will be of super high quality. Check it out, I even posted a new all-vinyls mix for your listening pleasure!

Z for Zafra

A little background helps for this post. H&L Records is a soul and disco outpost that broke off from Avco records in the late 60s. They founded their label on Philly soul balladeers the Stlyistics, who threw down some major jams like "Betcha by Golly, Wow," "Break up to Make Up," and "You Are Everything." Those guys made an indelible mark on the Philly sound for the 70s. check the youtube

Other notable H&L jams include Van McCoy's little number called "the Hustle," Sandy Mercer's You Are My Love, and the Softones' "Call it Love." Needless to say, you guys have most likely seen the memorable orange label in your crate-digging over the years.

Z for Zafra is a one-off for the H&L label. The record is soul-disco gold, and the cuts "Now That I've Found You" and "IF You Never Wanted My Love" seem to have been the most popular songs from the album, fitting snugly into the label's more soul grounded sound. Not to bash the songs, they are great as they stretch down the middle between disco like "Dancin' Round the Clock" and funk like "This Cat's on Fire." Personally, I really love the disco funk of "This Cat's on Fire," the ultra-hook laden, late-night, Marvin Gaye-meets-the-Archies "Tell Me Baby" and the sexually charged jazz fusion of "Sweet Juice."

Something about the genre bending nature of this find really jumped out at me. Z for Zafra pulls from all reaches of the pop spectrum the way only disco has room for; the album is charged with Philly soul vocal harmonies, disco hooks, funky bass lines, dreamy synthesizer boogie, fuzzy guitar solos, and a blues/dub/reggae influence adding the strophic accent to the catchy composition of some of the choruses. This LP has definitely been on a high rotation in my apartment the past month, and I'm definitely spinning this every chance I get to DJ this summer.

Click below for download.
Z for Zafra (self-titled), 1978, H&L Records
side A
1. This Cat's On Fire
2. Tell Me Baby
3. Sweet Juice
4. Skateboard Shuffle
side B
5. I Can See That
6. Now That I've Found You
7. It's in the Music
8. If You never Wanted My Love
9. Dancin' Round the Clock

Blo - Phase IV

This was definitely the highlight of my finds at Good Records a few weeks back. This record sells for upwards of $200 on the interweb, so I was lucky to find it in G to VG condition at a super reasonable price. Phase IV takes the band's psychedelic funk to a Grandfunk or Sly & the Family level with hints of a measure of disco in this 1976 release.

Two of the members toured and played with Ginger Baker even before their first LP in 1972 got them voted best band in Nigeria. Their guitarist Berkely Jones, who contributed his soloing to the Ofege self-titled debut recently rereleased by Academy Records, has some remarkable work on this record. Drummer Laolu Akins really shines as well, where "Number One" starts out the B Side with some major breakdowns. They have been one of my favorite bands to get "resurrected" during this time of intense Afro beat reissuing. Their Chapter One LP is phenomenal, and would definitely fetch more money than Phase IV, but Phase IV is often referred to as the Holy Grail of Afro-Boogie (i mean, i read that once, and now that I have it I am definitely spreading the rumor).

Regardless,I haven't heard anything of theirs that I didn't love. Chapter One has a stronger psychadelic sound, seemingly closer to the Zombies, Dr. John, or even the Rolling Stones, while Phase IV displays the more distinctively funky sound that the band pursued after being dropped by EMI. Enjoy!

Side 1:
1. Trace of Suicide
2. Scandi Boogie
3. You're So Kind
4. Music Makes You Happy

Side 2:
5. Number One
6. Save Me (Vocal-Lynn Thompson)
7. Move Up
8. I Miss Your Lovin'

-this was my first time ripping from vinyl. Any suggestions for improvement let me know. I didn't have time to cut each track into individual tracks. You can easily do that yourself if you need to.

Heads Up!

Ahh, i love going on records shop tours. I was up in NYC briefly and just stopped in for a minute at Good Records. That link takes you to their blog, which is worth checking from time to time as they post downloads of rare albums that they actually have hanging on their walls. The store is well curated, they have a man on the ground in Nigeria sending crates of LPs to stock their shelves. Only downside is the prices. They know how rare stuff is and how much they can get for it on the internet. Good news is if you talk music with them for awhile they might knock off ten percent and throw in some of the dollar bin albums that line the floor. Solid collection of global releases, and most of the albums were in great condition. Worth noting the disco and hip hop 12"s and soul/funk sections as well (they also had a fair number of 45s that were deep cuts). Plenty of gems to be had, the best stuff ranging from $8 to $150.

My friend has a turntable that can digitize LPs, so I'm going to either upload the LP rip or the digital version of the records I snagged this morning. Finds include Blo (phase iv), Z for Zafra (wait till you hear this!), Quarteto Em Cy, Melvin Ukachi (bring back the ofege beat!!!), and Los Bravos. So check in later this week for some uploads.

Until then, here is a promo mix that Good Records put out called "Fire Keep on Burning: Afro Caribbean Funk & Deep Disco Heat."

ERIK'Z NEW BLOG

Check out my new PERSONAL blog- Live! At The Black Lodge- chances are it'll be updated FAR more often than this one.

And there are a couple dope tracks on there already!

This LP Crashes Hard Drives

Yo, heads up on a Record Store Day exclusive......This LP Crashes Hard Drives will be released this Saturday which will include songs picked by LITA, Jazzman, Honest Jons, Numero, Daptone, Finders Keepers, Timmion, Vampi Soul and Sublime Frequencies. coool huh?

Fonoteca del INAH

The Mexican Smithsonian Folkways who put out some great records back in the day. I never hear field recording heads talk about INAH, but now you all know and can spread the word.

Red Sky In The Morning Mix

New mix, completed last weekend...


DJ FABERGE EGG - RED SKY IN THE MORNING

---pt. i---
david crosby – i’d swear there was somebody here
yello – blue green
vangelis – himalaya
blackbelt andersen – lordag
herb alpert – rotation
andreas vollenweider – belladonna (tangoterje edit)
ashra – midnight on mars

---pt. ii---
jah wobble, the edge + holger czukay – it was a camel
d. lissvik – trk 5
tulio de piscopo – 'e fatto 'e sorde! 'e? (max essa edit)
loud e – don’t wanna go
brennan green – escape from chinatown
tensnake – congolal
new order – your silent face
jean michel jarre - equinoxe 1

This one is a little less funky, a little more desultory and tropical. It makes for good home-listening atmosphere, I'd hope, even though there are more of my trademark jerky djing transitions and some unfortunately scratched-up vinyl. In any case, I hope you all enjoy...

The Orgone Box

What makes novelty novel? If we want the answer to this question we cannot value the novel against what it is not or what has not come before, rather we need to trace what the novel already is. For novelty is not the creation of a new whole, but a transformation, a rematerialization, another layer within a genealogy of something that came before. It is not enough to say that novelty is never new, because it is, but any novelty, and I would argue the more significant novelties gain their strength not in their newness, but through their history. What makes novelty novel is its ability to act as a catalyst for a phase change of thought, a paradigm shift, the opening up of a new plane of possibilities, problems, and characters.

Wilhelm Reich, a psychoanalyst and promoter of the largely disputed theory of orgone energy: a bioenergic force and the cause of all observable phenomena, will serve as the initial coordinates for a process of novelty that we feel today, but began a good while ago. Reich’s ideas and inventions, whether intentional or not, valid or invalid, launched a trajectory of ideas, non-linear, and incohesive, yet all the more meaningful, that have materialized in many forms, through the course of a few decades. Two of these forms present themselves here, one a post humus collection of obscure recordings across two decades released this past year, and the second, a cassette recording from a prolific sound artist and performer. While the thread that connects these is thin, it is just as long, and makes for durability in both of these works that transcends their initial temporal novelty.
So here’s what I’m talking about, or rather listening what I’m listening to, and recommending you to listen to: Ursula Bogner Recordings 1969-1988 (Faitiche LP) and Mudboy Mudboy Beats v. III: Metal USA (Breaking World Records Cassette). While these were recorded in very different times, very different places, and in very different manners they are both part of an aesthetic lineage that begins not with sound but in the silence of Reich’s Orgone Box. One of his most well known inventions, the Orgone Box was a composite of wood, aluminum, and steel that one sat into to absorb accumulations of Orgone energy. This energy, thought to be in atmosphere, was the equivalent of nascent sexual energy, the matter that resides in the id and the driving force of all of passions and energies, which we must reconcile in some way or another. Ursula Bogner, mother, pharmacist, and amateur musician owned and often used one of these boxes, which she housed in her garage. Thought to therapeutic, stress relieving, and an aphrodisiac, the Orgone Box erases the dialectic between material and thought by creating a continuous interface between atmosphere and mood.

Mood is what stands out the most in Bogner’s recordings. The record begins by putting us in space, above the atmosphere, with a sparse composition of tuba like bass and a repetitive modulated high frequency riff; it almost has a pop sensibility. In fact, most of the songs in their simply elegant repetition share this characteristic, my personal favorite being the fourth track Metazoon. As we descend back to earth through the warm atmosphere created by some awesome analog home recording equipment, the environment becomes more pronounced, but the melodies that add to the extra charm of this album are never fully absorbed. Two tracks near the end Pulsation and Testlauf, are equally moody as the first, but the added atmosphere of the equipment’s leftovers produces a sensation that we rarely experience from the mass of more contemporary home noise makers.

Mudboy, from Providence Rhode Island, being one of those “noise makers” stands out as an exception. As prolific as he is diverse in his release of material, Metal USA is the third installment of an ongoing series of Mudboy Beats. Where Bogner’s Recordings emphasized mood over atmosphere, Metal USA is atmosphere, but thick with mood. The beats are what stand out, and at points on both sides of the cassette definable melodies appear, but all of this is at once washed away and held in place by an ever-present mutating haze of detritus. What is really interesting about this recording is that the ambient qualities of the piece seem to have a direct connection to the form and timbre of the beats being produced. In this way the atmosphere morphs with the pace of the rhythm, at times being a slow and deep drone, while at others a franticly precise chatter.

On the inside sleeve of the cassette, under the name “Mudboy” an alternate title appears: “Doctor of Experimental Orgonomics.” Whether or not Mudboy, like Bogner, has sat inside an Orgone Box doesn’t really matter, nor does it matter whether or not Orgone as a bioenergic force really exists. Whether it does or not, our perception and our aesthetics are permanently altered. The effects of an Orgone culture, though obscure in its specificity, is wide spread in its generality. The fact that both these records were released in a year and both of their connections to Reich’s Orgonomics cannot be a coincidence. A novelty in the 50s, the obscure Orgone Box has until recently remained hidden, but thankfully not forgotten. The techniques of atmosphere and the effects of mood the original Orgone Box sought to create through electromagnetism, being rematerialized into media capable of producing an immersive, performative, or collective experience of sensation, achieves a durability its first incarnation as a bizarre psychoanalysis offshoot could not possibly sustain. Though scientific in nature, the Orgone Boxes weird science undermines beauty in harmony, just as much as Metal USA and Recordings produce sensation by way of dissonance.

Ursula Bogner Recordings: 1969-1988

Mudboy Beats III: Metal USA

MAMBO CHE CHAY

I've been on a crazy downloading bender this last week or two, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the latest (soulseek-enabled) batch. It's been nice going back to the more folky/organic side of freaky music, and I've found a few amazing records that bridge the gap nicely between spacey new-age-style synth mastery and loose, cult-leader-style outsider folk. These are some well-rounded, fine, immersive albums here, just the right amount of pop songcraft and grooves (to my liking) sprinkled in with a heavy base of blissed out cosmic beach hippie vibes...


Bobby Brown - The Enlightening Beam of Axonda (1972)

You may be familiar with more than a few of these, so forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know. The first album here is from Bobby Brown, not to be confused with the dude from New Edition that married Whitney Houston, etc. THIS is the OG Bobby Brown, who made his name performing at acid-drenched beach parties in the late '60s/'70s/'80s with his racks and racks of homemade musical equipment in tow (you can see some of these contraptions on the album cover). The album has sitars, it has faux-African conga jams, it has a lot of trippy noodling about, and it's even loosely based on a story highly informed by Brown's own awesome cosmic religious views! In summary- the perfect outsider album. (more info on the album here)


Vangelis - Earth

I'd be willing to bet most of you are familiar with Vangelis, but this album is different than the earth-shakingly powerful synthwork that became his claim to fame. Of course that stuff is awesome (if you don't agree please dl 'Heaven and Hell'), but he had more talent than even those albums and soundtracks let on. Much of his early work is amazing, but in particular his first official solo album- 'Earth'- is much rootsier and more psychedelic than I had any idea the man was capable of getting. This folky funkiness is nicely balanced with a couple yacht-rock level dance JAMS (see "He-O" and "Let it Happen") and some Ashra/Popol Vuh-esque expermentation ties it together nicely throughout. If you dig this, check out the less-groovy yet equally amazing 'The Dragon' for more of Mr. Papathanassiou's folky/experimental side.


Michael Shrieve with Kevin Shrieve and Klaus Schulze - Transfer Station Blue

Ok, actually this album is nothing new to me, but it definitely fits in with the overall vibe here. Some very dubbed-out synth compositions here that would nicely compliment the last couple of albums but still manage to ignore anything remotely 'folk'. Klaus Schulze IS involved, so you know we're in for at least a touch of analog komische wonderfulness right off the bat. And Michael Shrieve is best known for his drumming in Santana, so you also know that (even if you loathe Santana) this is going to be a pretty interesting collaboration. Yet the music is something altogether different and wonderful; if the other albums were beach music, then this is that rhythm fully submerged in the ocean. Or in space... one of the two.


DJ Harvey - Sarcastic Disco Vol. 1 (unmixed)

So this is a little weird, as this album contains tracks from a mix but is not really mixed, per se. It's just a collection of tracks used in one of Harvey's previous mixes that hold up really well on their own, especially on a sunny drive down Highway 1 (as experienced recently thx to zipcar!). So I guess that makes this more of a compilation than anything, but it works very well on those terms. It includes one track from the album just posted, a Holger Csukay tune, some rare funk, some synth wave- in general it manages to set a unique tone with a very disparate set of ingredients. Each track included is funky, stoney gold; less suitable for the disco and more for just steady GROOVIN. Again, being on a beach and/or in space does wonders for this album's listening potential.

ENJOY

Messy, Beardy Mixtape

So, I finally got around to making a mix, which I originally put together for the ILM competition but decided to share here also. The mixing is patchy to say the least, but I did it all with vinyl and hopefully you'll enjoy regardless- more beardo fun. Chelsey is going to be assembling a cover/package of some type for the tape (the name is subject to change :)), so until I have some images of that to post, here goes...


DANCE AND SHAKE YOUR TAMBOURINE

A Mountain of One - "Can't Be Serious" (AMO)
Greg Wilson - "Cosmic DJ Delight" (RVNG)
The Bee Gees - "Love You Inside Out (Cole Medina Edit)" (American Standard)
Bonar Bradberry - "Dungeons" (Mindless Boogie)
Dr. John - "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" (ATCO)
Fleetwood Mac - "Tussskk (Beard Science Extension)" (Beard Science)
Universal Robot Band - "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine" (P & P)
Grace Jones - "Williams Blood (Yam Who? Cosmic Jam Mix)" (bootleg)
Soft Rocks - "Umut 2000" (Soft Rocks)
Unknown Artist - "Sir Mr. Doctor To You" (Golf Channel)
Hercules and Love Affair - "Hercules' Theme" (DFA)
Noir Désir - "Le Vent Nous Portera (Rubber Room Rerub)" (Mindless Boogie)
The Joubert Singers - "Stand On The Word (Larry Levan Mix)" (Tirk)

Old and New

This has been floating within my radar as various limited edition vinyl and cd reissues - along with blog hype) throughout 07 and 08, but I hadn't listened to it because I wanted to snag it on vinyl if i had the chance. Unfortunately, that opportunity has passed for now, so I downloaded it and it lives up to the hype. These guys sound like a garage rock version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience with a tinge of more spacey, guru guru guitar sounds. Totally freaked out, bordering on funky, and definitely worth the half hour of your time. Comparable to The Peace and W.I.T.C.H.

Chico Magnetic Band - self titled CD from 1973

Emeralds - What Happened - 2009 (No Fun)

I guess I am coming to Emeralds a little late, seeing as how they have released a billion cassettes and cdrs, but their latest release validates all the references to the analog drone, space, and ambient oscillation that very directly responds and alludes to the German minimal synthesizer work of the 70s. This latest album spans from Cluster to early Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze. Albeit those signposts could signify a lot, and are definitely used abundantly in every album review ever these days, I do not think it is redundant or uncalled for here. However, most of the ambient or drone acts that receive krautrock genre pinning hardly resemble the true heritage of electronic music pioneers and ignores staple visionaries outside of Germany like Morton Subotnik's tape work or Henry Poussier's harsh microtonal electronics.

Anyways, Emeralds are a trio from Ohio that use analog equipment to produce serious ambient sounds that are tranquil and warm but stir up some demanding guitar solos along with voluminously building drone. The improvised quality to the music both adds to the edge that makes this worth listening to but provides a real reminder of the good old days when ambient music was always loud, ambitious, and zealously groundbreaking.

Not my top 10

I found these amazing videos on ubuweb. The first one is called Sound?? with John Cage and Rashaan Roland Kirk. Unfortunately, the two of them are never together; it's just videos of the two edited into one. Theres nothing new here on Cage, aside from some really funny shots and camera tricks. There is however some amazing footage of Roland Kirk. Mostly footage of Roland Kirk performances and snippets of Cage talking about sound and music.

The second video is called Island Song. Charlemagne Palestine strapped a video camera to himself and got on his motorcycle. He rides in a circle around a small island singing about escaping. Palestine puts on his cantor voice, and the motorcycle creates an interesting vocal effect and helps create some really nice harmonies.

Also ubuweb hosts a series of tapes called Music with Roots in the Aether. They're a series of 2 hour tapes by Robert Ashley. They all focus on one experimental composer and include an interview and performance. The featured artists are Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman, Philip Glass and Robert Ashley. All the installments are downloadable as huge video files as well as mp3.

Also,
Alvin Lucier - I am sitting in a room
This is mentioned in Alan Licht's top 30, but it is not posted. Alvin Lucier records himself (in a room) speaking, then records as he plays it back. Then he plays and records the new tape and so on. It begins as you might expect, it sounds like an echo chamber or reverb effect. As he repeats the process over 45 minutes, the speech becomes completely indiscernible as it devolves into the resonant frequencies of his recording space. Originating from his voice, the resonance becomes more powerful in each new recording as it slowly takes over. Worth a minimum of one listen.

Francisco's Top of '08

Top of ‘08 (In order….cuz I got ballz)

1- John Baker Tapes Volume 1 & 2 (Trunk)

2- Bill Dixon w/the Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey)

3- Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp Records)

4- Arabian Prince - Innovative Life (Stones Throw)

5- Soulja Boy - Unsigned and Still Major Da Album Before Da Album (not trying to be cute or funny, this is some of the most original music made this year; he is only 17 years old too!!) (Self released)

6- William Parker - Double Sunrise over Neptune (Aum Fidelity)

7- George Mitchell Collection Vol. 1-45 (Fat Possum)

8- 78s From The EMI Archive (Honest Jon’s)

9- Blank dogs - On Two Sides (Troubleman Unlimited)

10- Peter Brötzmann/Uuskyla – Born Broke (Atavistic)

*I did not include any full length reissues or else Lula Cortes and Orchestre Regional De Kayes would have been in the top 2 positions.

Top 5 Musical Experiences (In order)

1- Digging in Mexico D.F. and bringing back a suitcase full of records.

2- Seeing Pharaoh Sanders in LA perform two shows, getting my copy of Black Unity signed, and, OMG, shaking his hand!!

3- Seeing Cecil Taylor live at Grace Cathedral (which has 7 secs of natural reverb) in SF

4- Driving back home for the holidays while trippin ballz and listening to Barry White’s album “The Icon is Love” twice in a row.....blowing my fucking mind

5- Finding one of my most desired lps in Amoeba SF (Celly Cel’s Killa Kali in mint condition mind you)

Biggest Disappointment of ‘08

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna

Sounds of Space

Just thought it'd be nice to share a couple links I've been abusing as of late, since we're still waiting on Calvin and Francisco to actually do anything around here...

I've been loving this incredible set of recordings taken from the NASA Voyager Space Shuttle of the planets and rings of Saturn and Uranus. It was originally released sometime in the '90s as some sort of healing/meditation/new-age (yes, more!) music, but it's super abstract and full of really dense eruptions of drone. Each planet was supposed to correspond to your mood, sorta like astrology and horoscopes but with 'healing music'.

These sounds are recordings of the interaction of the Solar wind and the Ionosphere of each of the outer planets. The resonance of these ions is exactly within the range of human hearing (20-20,000 Hz) - called by NASA "Ion Acoustic Waves". This means that nothing had to be done artificially to the sounds to hear them – They were the REAL "Music of the Spheres". Although there is no air in space, there is vibration. Space does not have the medium of air to carry the vibration to your ear, but the vibration is present. With the specialized recording equipment aboard Voyager, it became possible to record these amazing sounds for the first time and then hear them here on Earth.

Imagine his amazement and that of all of us when we heard these NASA Space Sound recordings that sounded like dolphins, whales, ocean, crickets, choirs, Tibetan bowls and monks chanting! Something in the core of the subconscious awakens and pays close attention to and in the presence of these sounds. These are some of the most powerful tools for healing, inner awakening and self change that Dr. Thompson has researched and produced. His Primordial Sounds™ are found on his Audio Programs, giving even more power to his musical sounds and other techniques used.

http://www.neuroacoustic.com/nasa.html#NASA_more-info

NASA - VOYAGER RECORDINGS: SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS PART ONE

NASA - VOYAGER RECORDINGS: SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS PART TWO

NASA - VOYAGER RECORDINGS: SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS PART THREE

NASA - VOYAGER RECORDINGS: SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS PART FOUR

NASA - VOYAGER RECORDINGS: SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS PART FIVE

I think I showed Calvin this, but if the rest of you don't know yet, you can download all but a couple of Alan Licht's top 30 Minimalist albums here. And a bunch of sweet jazz albums and other great stuff, too.

This last link is to one of my favorite mixes I've discovered via the world-wide interweb, by Chris G. of Soft Rocks. The mix is cosmic as hell, and I really don't recognize any of the tracks but I love the overall spaced-out, druggy motorik groove that runs throughout.

Soft Rocks - From Our Space to Yours

Psychadelic Folk Rarities

Looking forward to Francisco and Calvin's top ten lists, but in the meantime I thought we could start some rarities or psych-folk rarities posts to spread the word on records of that nature.
I think this whole psych folk field is more Eric's expertise than mine, but I just heard Pari Zangeneh for the first time and figured I would upload some albums and links and see what you guys have to share along these lines.

First, Pari Zangeneh.


The Spanish record label Ks reissued her 1976 album entitled The Series of Music for Young Adults in a run of 500 CDs and 350 LPs in the past month. Beautiful soft female vocals with a determined edge being backed by organs, flutes, and choruses of modernity juxtaposing the traditional elements of the Iranian folk songs comprising nearly half the disc. She was blinded in a car accident in '71 and devoted her life to helping others with disabilities. Her service aligned with her love of folk music: common people and their challenges. She is still living and performing and has worked as a soloist for orchestras around the world.



Looking into Pari Zangeneh lead me to the second and third posts.

Second: Mellow Candle

Nothing like three Irish teenage girls to crank out the prog rock jams! This album, Swaddlins Songs, was their only release, and probably costs a billion dollars on vinyl these days.

Third:
CAN AM DES PUIG - Book of Am. All you need and more HERE
And if anyone can find the audio for this, an upload would be much appreciated.

Fourth:
Finally, Jola Rota by Joakim Skogsberg

I grabbed this because Aquarius couldn't believe that it had been reissued because it was so rare and all. It's not bad. It was on Tiliqua so I figured it was somewhat reliable. Turned out to be worth the listen. Crazy Swedish farmer combining Buddhist meditative chanting with traditional Swedish folk. Droney, stoner, hippy folk.

Erik's Top Tens for 2008

I decided to follow a similar format to Brian's list, so the lists aren't necessarily in order here either. The ones I uploaded are at the beginning of each...

NEW ALBUMS

Zomby – Where Were U In 92? (Werk Discs)
I'm not sure if this type of record is necessarily everyone here's bag, but then again I didn't really know it was mine until I gave it a listen. Zomby is a modern dubstep producer known for releases on Hyperdub, and he's twisting that archetypal sound up quite a bit on this release. His debut full length is something of a one-off tribute to the salad days of hardcore house music, incorporating some classic rave samples and a hell of a lot of airhorn. You can hear faint traces of the dubstep sound in many of these tracks, but it nicely avoids the stale template I've come to associate with that genre.

John Maus – Love Is Real (Upset! the Rhythm)
Toumani Diabate – The Mande Variations (World Circuit)
Syclops – I’ve Got My Eye On You (DFA)
Indian Jewelry – Free Gold! (Lovepump United)
Betty Botox – Mmm… Betty (Endless Flight)
Hercules and Love Affair – s/t (DFA)
Blank Dogs – On Two Sides (Troubleman Unlimited)
U.S. Girls – Introducing… (Siltbreeze)
The Capstan Shafts – Fixation Protocols (Rainbow Quartz)

REISSUES/COMPS

Droids – Star Peace (Repressed)
I guess this nod goes for the music alone, since the reissue really doesn't give you any information whatsoever about this release. But I hadn't heard this album until this year, so Repressed should get a mention just for the simple task of bringing this stuff to the light of day again. I do know that it's French, from 1978, and sounds like a funkier Kraftwerk or Yellow Magic Orchestra. And that there are some amazing youtube clips of these guys in robot suits performing live for French television (seriously, check it out).

The Clean – Compilation (Mississippi)
V/A: Nigeria Special Series (Soundway)
V/A: Space Oddities compiled by Alexis Le Tan & Jess (Permanent Vacation)
Dillard & Clark – The Expedition of Dillard & Clark (Water)
V/A Computer Incarnations for World Peace II compiled by Gerd Janson (Sonar Kollektiv)
La Düsseldorf - La Düsseldorf/Viva (Water/4 Men With Beards)
Martin Dupont – Lost and Late (Minimal Wave)
V/A: Originals compiled by Moonboots and Balearic Mike (Claremont 56)
Arthur Russell – Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika)

SINGLES

Ghost Note – Holy Jungle EP (Golf Channel)
This year I discovered the simple pleasures of beardo disco, nowhere better exemplified than in this 'Holy Mountain'-sampling percussive onslaught. "Pissed and Passed Out" is the first track I flipped my shit for here, with it's spooky, enveloping, jungle atmospherics cresting nicely and erupting into one of the more acid-fried guitar solos I've heard on any dance record. And it's not even an edit of anything (as most everything worth listening to in the genre tends to be); there are real musicians on these tracks, original ideas, and a nice little dub mix from house producer Mark E to boot. If you ever see anything on this label buy it immediately.

Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix feat. Au Revoir Simone) (XL)
Invisible Conga People – Cable Dazed b/w Weird Pains (Italians Do It Better)
Mari Boine vs. Mungolian Jetset – It Ain’t Necessarily Evil (Luna Flicks)
Omar S – Psychotic Photosynthesis (FXHE)
Maelstrom – The Duke (Maelstrom Edit) (Mindless Boogie)
Grackle – Jungle (T. Keeler and Capablanca Mix) (Discos Capablanca)
The Juan MacLean – Happy House (DFA)
Dr. Dunks – Love Savage (Whatever We Want)
Kuniyuki Takahashi – Dear African Sky (Henrik Schwarz Remix) (Mule)

Brian's Top Tens

Since we were all talking top tens, I put some lists together with a few links to downloads. Lists are in no particular order.

Matthew Young is in line with Roach's new ageness and was a college radio LP heavily embodying "synth-wave" when released in '81. Young put it all together on a homemade synthesizer and the songs range from ambient sounds to synthesizer space rock.

The Murcof album takes 17th century baroque classical sounds from flutes, harpsichords, violas, mezzo soprano singers and merges them into cavernous electronic spaces merging in and out of microbeats and low end bass throbs.

Nicolas Tone is a noise/jazz 3" cdr that I enjoyed this summer.

Top ten new releases 2008:
Ilyas Ahmed – The Vertigo at Dawn (time-lag)
Scott Tuma –Not for Nobody (digitalis)
Sic Alps – us ez (siltbreeze)
Fire Room – Broken Music (Atavistic)
Pants Yell! - Allison Statton (soft abuse)
Lucky Dragons – Dream Island Laughing Language (Marriage Records)
Phillip Jeck – Sand (Touch)
Kurt Vile – Constant Hitmaker (Gulcher Records)
Murcof – The Versailles Sessions (Leaf)
Atlas Sound // Deerhunter – Let the Blind // Microcastle (Kranky)

Top ten rereleases 2008:
George Mitchell Collection – Vol. 1 - 45 (Fat Possum)
Lowell Davidson – Trio (ESP-Disk)
Jandek – Ready for the House (Jackpot Records)
Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue (Sony)
Erkin Koray – Elektronik Turkulur (turku la)
The Peace – Black Power (Groovie)
Gary Wilson – You think you really know me (Cry Baby Records)
The Toms – s/t (Black Sheep Records)
Matthew Young - Recurring Dreams and Travelers Advisory (Yoga Records)
V/A - Sprigs of Time, Songs of the Brokenhearted, and Living is Hard (Honest John’s)

Singles, Cassettes, and CDRs 2008:
Kraus – The Facts (Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
Sex Vid – Nests (Dom US)
Jim O’Rourke – Despite the Water Supply (Touch)
Nicolas Tone – I’m Tone Deaf (Thor’s Rubber Hammer)
Cold Cave – The Trees Grew Emotions and Died (Dais Records)
Dead Reptile Shrine – Burning Black Intensity (antihumanism)
Calvin Johnson Mixtapes "US Wimpy Powerpop," "Bump your Booty," & "Everybody Hustle"