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
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