As a member of Magic Carpet and Magic Carpet II, and on his solo recordings, British sitarist Alford has explored the fusion of Indian music with folk, jazz, and rock. Although he initially studied bagpipes, Alford began playing the sitar in the mid-'60s, inspired by Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar. He went to India in 1968 to study classical sitar with Pandit Sachindranath Saha, and in 1969 recorded an album with guitarist Jim Moyes and tabla player Keshav Sathe for Windmill. Unfortunately, this was issued under the name Sagram, although the actual name of the band was Sargam. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
Really rare psych joints from the 60's compiled by Mike Davis, owner of Academy Records in NY. Some of his rarest acquisitions over decades of record collecting, 1967 to 1973, from places as far-ranging as Turkey, Uruguay & Peru.more info
Artist: Ben Prestage
Album: One Crow Murder
Released: 1997
Quality: Mp3 CBR 320
Size: 139 MB
Born the grandson of a Mississippi sharecropper, Ben Prestage has been soaked in Blues tradition and Mississippi culture since birth. Growing up in the swamps of south central Florida, Prestage began to mix Mississippi Country Blues with his own brand of Florida Swamp Blues. This muddy- water- meets- black- water stew has led him to perform from California to the Carolinas to the Florida Keys, in large festivals, every kind of bar, and sometimes on downtown sidewalks. Ben Prestage spent some time as a street performer on historic Beale Street, while living in Memphis, TN. He used to share a spot in front of the New Daisy Theatre with modern blues legends Robert Belfour (Fat Possum Records) and Richard Johnston (2001 International Blues Competition winner). Being a street musician in the “Blues capital of the South” threw Prestage’s music in a new direction. To his show, he added a cigarbox guitar (made by Memphian an one-man-band John Lowe) which has stereo guitar and bass strings that can be played independently, at the same time. Then Ben added a series of four foot pedals that can be manipulated by the heels and toes of both feet to play a drumkit. The final result is Ben playing guitar, bass, and drums while singing his own brand of Blues which leaves bottles empty and dance floors full wherever his music takes him.bluesboys.com
Artist: Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
Album: Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories)
Released: 1997
Quality: lossless (FLAC tracks)
Size: 353 MB (with scans)
Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny have been good friends since the 1970s, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that Beyond the Missouri Sky should be their first duet album together. Both musicians are from small towns in Missouri, which leads Metheny to speculate in the liner notes if this similarity of childhood ambience might have something to do with the two players' obvious love and affinity for each other. Whatever the answer, the result of this logical pairing is a rather somber and moody one. Metheny has a dark tone on his electric guitar, and on Beyond the Missouri Sky, where he plays acoustic, his sound is similarly deep and rounded. Metheny has called Haden one of the greatest improvisers of all time, and although this may be hyperbolic exaggeration from a longtime friend, Haden has at least earned the right to defend the claim. On Beyond the Missouri Sky, his playing is as sensitive and beautiful as always. Although one can understand the vibe that Haden and Metheny were going for, the preponderance of slow and mid-tempo material can wear on the listener. When they eschew the dirge-like tempos, as on the fantastic "The Precious Jewel," the results are just as atmospheric and are, in fact, even more evocative of the Midwestern landscapes that are featured so prominently in the album art. With Metheny setting up a strummy rhythm, Haden plays the stately melody with impeccable tone. This track, one of many, also showcases Metheny overdubbing different guitars to thicken out the sound of the performance. The results are similar, at least in spirit, to Bill Frisell's recordings in the latter half of the 1990s. Although many Metheny and Haden compositions that are featured on this record, it is their readings of older material that are most effective. The Jimmy Webb classic "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" is wonderfully nostalgic, as Metheny uses subtle guitar and synth washes to pad a beautiful duet performance, and the traditional "He's Gone Away" is the greatest lullaby that never was. Overall, Beyond the Missouri Sky is a fine record when the material is happening, but a bit of a chore when it is not. If Haden and Metheny had gone with the more Americana theme throughout, instead of interspersing that rootsy feel with post-bop, it would have been a much stronger record. ~ Daniel Gioffre
…This incredibly strange, exceptionally deep and exceedingly broad compilation of songs related to Jewish American mobsters offers a series of fractured takes about the situation. The music covers a wide time period, from the ‘20s to the ‘60s, and seems sequenced in random order, but the juxtapositions of the different material force the listener to make connections. Further complicating the issue is that many of the songs and artists are not Jewish. While one may appreciate the three titles by Italian-American teenage heartthrob Connie Francis (nee Concetta Rosa Maria Franconera) emotionally sung in Yiddish, or even Welshman Tom Jones’ torch song take on “My Yiddishe Mamme”, you have to ask why Chubby Checker’s rendition of “Misirlou” that ends with the line “Heave will guide us\Allah will bless our love” is here at all. The only clue provided in the liner notes is that the original was a popular folk song in the Jewish communities of Asia Minor. Well, maybe that and it sounds Middle Eastern (re: Semitic) and has found its way into Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction as done by Dick Dale… ~ read full review by Steven Horowitz
Artist: various
Album: Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes. The Powerhouse of Colombian Music 1960-76
Released: 2007
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 210 MB with scans
Artist: The Lunatics
Albums: Tour Du Monde
Release date: 2004
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 91 MB
This is the third album from this Finnish instrumental rock group. Their sound has plenty of surf influence, but they also have some with more of an exotic flavor, some that are slower atmospheric pieces, some that are rock out, and several of them have funk and ska rhythms. “Ripe Oat” has a western/country feel to it, “Cramps” features saxophone, and they cover Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” Their guitars have a clean sound in most parts, and are played exceptionally well. The production is clean too, so if you are looking for some lo-fi, fuzzed-out surf rock, this isn’t it. But it is quite good. ~ BL, Rock'n'Roll Purgatory
Artist: Weyes Blood And The Dark Juices
Albums: The Outside Room
Release date: 2011
Quality: mp3 VBR ~224
Size: 71 MB
The record has shadows of The Shadow Ring in the oddly creaking ambient sounds and stark, nuanced production, which lend the eerily beautiful neo-Nico death-folk laments a more modern, art-skewed sheen. There’s still echoes of her old drone/tape-ghost-clouds moods on tracks like “In The Isle Of Agnitio” and the long, bells-laden outro to “Romneydale,” but the bulk of the LP is swooning and sweeping, with Natalie’s gorgeous, quasi-Teutonic vox leading the way. A subtly mesmerizing long-player, very “out of time,” and strangely untouched by contempo influences. MORE INFO
Artist: various
Albums: African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds from Benin & Togo 70s
Release date: 2008
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 169 MB
African Scream Contest easily joins the ranks of the most essential African funk compilations, partly by covering ground no one else has walked on, but mostly just for relentlessly kicking ass for over an hour. This is some of the best funk ever recorded anywhere, and it ranges from quick blasts of hyperspeed groove like Le Super Borgou de Parakou's "Congolaise Benin Ye" to the ruminative Fela-style Afrobeat of Vincent Ahehehinnou and Les Volcans' spicy Afro-Cuban workout. Whether you've been hunting down El Rego 45s on eBay for years or just heard and loved your first Fela reissue, this disc is emphatically for you. ~ Joe Tangari, June 17, 2008 MORE INFO
Artist: Asleep At The Wheel
Albums: Reinventing The Wheel
Release date: 2007
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 94 MB
What are you gonna say about Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel? Everything they've recorded is inspired. It's true that for the last 12-15 years they've been making lots of live and tribute kinds of records, but even when they record a "new" one as Benson boasts on the back sleeve, they still sound like a rollicking, reeling, good-time swaggering Texas-style Western swing band. The lineup changes, and changes, and changes to be sure, but because of Benson's stubborn reliance on the form, the group keeps a very definite sound. This new set underscores that case in spades and all one has to do is listen to the cover of Mose Allison's great jump tune "Your Mind Is on Vacation." Allison, being a son of the Deep South himself (Mississippi) may never have imagined his tune this way, but it's easy to imagine him smiling and swinging along to it, or thinking up a smoking little piano solo, when he hears it. The same goes for Louis Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry." There is one anomaly here, though, and it's the album's closer, a beautiful straight honky tonk version of Guy Clark's "The Cape." Benson pours real emotion into it while keeping Clark's phrasing nearly identical. There are also a couple of Tommy Duncan numbers here, and Fred Rose's stomper "The Devil Ain't Lazy," which could have been covered by Louis Jordan with a saxophone playing the steel solo, plus a couple of originals by Benson. It all adds up to a fine effort by Asleep at the Wheel. This band may be an institution, but they still have inspiration, chops, and hardcore swing in spades to dish out to listeners. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide (USA)
Artist: The Sadies
Albums: Tales of the Rat Fink
Release date: 2006
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Size: 187 MB
Famous for representing American Hotrod counter-culture with his intricate yet bizarre creations, Ed Roth and his monsters have been followed by fans ever since and Ron Mann, director of Comic Book Confidential and Grass has now given the man a film with Tales of the Ratfink, burrowing the name of his most famous creation. A largely animated affair voiced by John Goodman, Brian Wilson and others, the film is scored by American surf/western-rock band The Sadies.
Sounding exactly like it should, Tales of the Ratfink OST is a great deal of guitar and little else; largely instrumental with the exception of The Corktown featuring the man himself Ed Roth, the score works in the best possible way and could easily provide backing to all manner of social events from BBQ. ~ Ross Breadmore
