Artist: The Johnson Family
Albums: No Forwarding Address
Release date: 2008
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 90 MB
Not many bands can boast a higher pedigree than the Johnson Family. Each member is a successful and well-respected artist in their own right. Nigel Lewis, one time original member of Psychobilly band The Meteors, as well as his other successes which include The Tall Boys, has maintained a huge cult following for over 25 years.
This four track EP, limited to 1500 copies, includes 4 orginal 1950s instrumental calypso recordings from Cyril Diaz who became renowned for the “rich and smooth tone” of his tenor sax playing. On this EP four of his tracks are presented including the traditional Cuban standard ‘Tabu’, the Haitian inspired ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Serenal’ with it’s alternate version ‘Chive Soup Merengie’ both derived from Trinidad’s Latin music tradition
Artist: Man Man
Albums: Life Fantastic
Release date: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 100 MB
Man Man are full of contradictions: They make great studio records that can't compare to the intensity of their physically demanding live show. Oh, but you really gotta pay attention to the lyrics. And their best songs are the slow ones. Their facepaint, percussion, and piano-pounding portray them as wild men, but Honus Honus' junkyard-dog howl is the projection of an old soul. This duality is more pronounced than ever on their fourth LP, Life Fantastic. On one end, it's by far their most tasteful and well-produced record to date. But it contains the darkest, most frightening lyrics Honus has written-- which is really saying something.
It makes sense that the band brought in Saddle Creek house producer Mike Mogis, not just for his mastery of reining in orchestral bric-a-brac but also for his experience with the most caustic emotional bloodletting. But not even early Bright Eyes can hold a candle to the absolutely scorching self-immolation of Life Fantastic. Leadoff "Knuckle Down" casts Honus as an all-too-willing supplicant in an emotionally and sexually draining relationship. But at least someone's getting their rocks off there-- more typical is the atomic "Dark Arts", which details an accident Honus suffered before the Life Fantastic sessions.
The autobiographical details are a bit stifling at times, but Honus' other lyrical subjects are no better off: Within the subtly hooky vocals of the title track, children find a corpse at a picnic and are informed by their parents that "the world is dying." If there's a better marimba-led tango about a killer who turns his victims into household items ("The fireman is an ashtray/ The DJ spins as fan blades"), I haven't heard it. And in the tradition of OutKast's "Toilet Tisha", don't let a silly title ("Spooky Jookie") distract you from a harrowing and grotesque account of a life slipping away to drugs ("She broke her teeth/ On an unsheathed piece of hard-tasting candy").
While Honus continues to prove himself one of rock's best working lyricists, Life Fantastic contains as many musically compelling moments as Rabbit Habits and Six Demon Bag. They've dialed down the wacky factor-- not as many cartoon voices, no kazoos-- though it's not a simple matter of having a "real producer" for the first time. Clearly, Mogis cleans them up nicely, importing lovely string sections for the title track and "Oh, La Brea". But for every song such as "Knuckle Down" that packs a sturdy, forceful melody, others struggle to fit the contours of Honus' syntax. Pay too much attention to the words and the songs can bleed into each other, or recall older Man Man material.
That's not a sin, considering Man Man have created a niche that's wholly theirs. It's natural for them to embrace this established identiy, most clearly expressed on closer "Oh, La Brea". Settling in Los Angeles after a few itinerant years, Honus finds himself disenfranchised by the west side ("Sepulveda and Pico, what the hell do they know about me?") as well as the artsier east side. He finds comfort in the thoroughfare sharing its name with a tar pit-- fitting for a pitch-black record that reveals as many skeletons as you're willing to dig for. ~ Ian Cohen
Artist: various
Albums: Anatolia Rocks: A Musical Trip Through Turkey Vol.1 & 2
Released: 2009 / 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 153 + 119 MB
Anatolian rock (Turkish: Anadolu Rock) is a fusion of Turkish folk and rock music. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo, and Omega became popular in Turkey. Examples of this style include Turkish musicians such as Cem Karaca, Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, Fikret Kızılok, Murat Ses alongside bands such as Moğollar, Kurtalan Ekspres, Mavi Işıklar, Apaşlar and Kardaşlar. Today, Anatolian Rock is a general term used to describe music derived from both traditional Turkish folk music and Rock.
Based in Berlin, Germany, the 17 Hippies started off in 1995 as a trio playing the otherwise unlikely mix of Cajun and Baroque music. Gradually, they expanded their line-up and eventually ended up as an orchestra consisting of twenty, sometimes even thirty musicians. Coming from different backgrounds like rock, jazz and classical music, the band members assimilated virtually any musical style available and blended all of this into their own unique sound. Thus, they feel equally at home whether playing at boisterous wedding parties or in the chamber music room. Appearances at the renown SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in 1998 or the simultaneous release of CDs in French, German and Italian in the respective countries in 1999 all contributed to the growing global reputation of this ensemble of world citizens. The band also pursued other projects such as the release of a book of music for children (1999) and the soundtrack for the Andreas Dresen movie Halbe Treppe (English title: Grillpoint) (2002) which won a prize at the 2002 Berlinale, the renown Berlin film festival, and is one of the highlights of post-reunification German cinema. ~ Frank Eisenhuth, Allmusic.com
Artist: Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band
Albums: Egyptian Jazz 1968-1973
Released: 2006
Quality: mp3 CBR 320 (vinyl rip)
Size: 91 MB
Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Salah Ragab was a central figure in the history of jazz in Egypt. A sometime collaborator with Sun Ra, Ragab founded the Cairo Jazz Band in 1968, the same year that he became the head of the Egyptian Military Music Department. The Cairo Jazz Band was Egypt's first big band, mixing American jazz with North African music, combining jazz instrumentation and musical style with indigenous melodies and instruments, like the nay (bamboo flute) and the baza (ramadan drum). Such musical cross-fertilization was not unusual in itself; American musicians from Sun Ra to Yusef Lateef had long been fascinated by the music of Islam and North Africa, incorporating both the instruments and musical forms of the Fertile Crescent into their work. But Salah Ragab’s music presents a topsy-turvied perspective, a view from the other side of the musical equation of West meets Middle East.
More importantly, however, The Cairo Jazz Band seriously swings. While there have been some tantalizing tidbits from Ragab available in the past, such as the Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt release on Leo Records, this reissue is the first time such a wide variety of Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band's music has been made available outside Egypt. Collecting material from 1968-73, Egyptian Jazz is published by the UK imprint Art Yard, who have hitherto exclusively released an outstanding series of vinyl-only Sun Ra recordings. It's no surprise, then, that there's much here to appeal to Sun Ra aficionados, but with songs like the swaggeringly cocksure “Egyptian Strut” and blow-outs like the scorching “Ramadan in Space Time” and the ultra-groovy “Neveen,” this record more than stands on its own. As head of the Egyptian Military Music Department, Ragab had access to some of Egypt's finest instrumentalists, and he drew deep from this pool of musical talent. The ensemble playing is top-notch throughout and there are stand-out solos on flute, sax, and keyboards, notably on the percussion-heavy "Neveen." Susanna Bolle, Dusted
Artist: Holly Golightly
Albums: No Help Coming
Date of release: May 2011
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Size: 226 MB
Holly Golightly was born in London and named after the heroine in Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She fell under the spell of American roots music the minute she heard her first Stax single and started her musical career playing guitar and singing in punk bands like Thee Headcoatees. Golightly started recording her own albums in the mid-‘90s, drawing on the American singles in her massive collection for influence. She was particularly taken with gospel, blues, and other styles of music from the American South, as evidenced by her original songs, which have a strong retro feel. In 2005, Golightly started performing as a duo with Lawyer Dave, a Texas born one-man band that plays guitar, drums, and occasionally the banjo. No Help Coming is the fourth album they’ve cut as a duo, with Golightly singing and Dave acting as another vocalist and backup band.
On stage, Dave is impressive as he plays drums and cymbals with various foot pedals and wails on slide guitar. It’s natural to think there’s been a bit of overdubbing on the record, although the liner notes are mum on this aspect of the recording process. Still, the duo is responsible for every note on the album, and they make an impressive amount of rhythmic lo-fi noise, emulating the sound of the blues, country, and early rock oldies that inspired their songwriting.
“Burn O’ Junk Pile Burn” opens with a clattering of junkyard percussion and a spooky slide guitar figure from Dave that intensifies the song’s cryptic lyric, the story of a woman trying to scrape by on nothing much. The tune’s vaguely Middle Eastern feel brings to mind the Coasters’ “Little Egypt.” The country blues of the Chess era are the obvious inspiration for “Get Out My House”, a variation on the traditional and oft-covered “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” sporting a catchy chorus and delivered with a jubilantly ragged energy. Dave sings lead on “You’re Under Arrest”, a rocking country-blues tune that details an arrest for drunk driving with plenty of dark humor and a great twang-heavy guitar solo full of distorted chords and gritty bent notes. Golightly takes vocals on the sultry, simmering “The Whole Day Long”, a bluesy song of infidelity. Dave’s erratic slide guitar accents intensify the tune’s sexual tension, while the lyrics are sung at a slow deliberate pace, making every word simmer with a combination of guilt and sinful satisfaction.
The album closes with two covers, Wavy Gravy’s “L.S.D. (Rock ‘n’ Roll Prison)” and “Lord Knows We’re Drinking”, a tune made popular by country crooner Whispering Bill Anderson. “L.S.D. (Rock ‘n’ Roll Prison)” is sung by Lawyer Dave and opens with an impressive psychedelic guitar freak-out, then morphs into a country murder ballad. Dave sings the tune with a cracked, shaky voice that sounds almost comedic, rather than dramatic, which was probably Wavy Gravy’s intent.
Artist: various
Album: The Roots Of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru Vol. 1 & 2
Released: 2007 / 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 192 / VBR ~250
Size:82 / 92 MB
Chicha started out in the late 60’s, in the oil-boom cities of the Peruvian Amazon. Cumbias Amazonicas, as they were first known, were loosely inspired by Colombian cumbias but incorporated the distinctive pentatonic scales of Andean melodies, some Cuban guajiras, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, wah-wah pedals, farfisa organs and moog synthesizers.
Chicha, which is named after a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas, quickly spread to Lima. It became the music of choice of the mostly indigenous new migrant population – mixing even further with rock, Andean folklore and Peruvian creole music.
Very much like Jamaican Ska or Congolese Soukous, Chicha is western-influenced indigenous music geared toward the new urban masses who wholly identified with the new hybrid . Chicha is at once raw and sophisticated - and until now, it had never been released outside of Peru. more info
Artist: The Black Angels
Album: Another Nice Pair / Phosgene Nightmare
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 142 MB
Collecting The Black Angels' first two EPs on a single disc, Another Nice Pair (LITA 066) stands as a potent document of the band's formative psych-rock sound. Presented as a vinyl "double EP," the A side (The Black Angels EP released 10/18/2005 as LITA 017) includes key tracks from the critically acclaimed debut album Passover (LITA 018, released 4/11/2006) in addition to the non-album jam "Winter '68." The B side flip presents the original Black Angel Exit EP (released 5/13/2008) which was available only as a limited edition bonus EP for those who pre-ordered the band's sophomore Directions To See A Ghost LP (LITA 033, released 4/15/2008). This side also includes tracks that were available only as bonus material on the limited edition 3-LP version of Directions To See A Ghost, in addition to the iTunes exclusive "Black Angel Exit/Shine," and a ripping cover of Black Mountain's "No Satisfaction."
Explaining the Phosgene Nightmare release, guitarist Christian Bland says - "’Phosgene Nightmare' is 6 more dreams recorded during the Phosphene Dream sessions. The 6 dreams were specifically saved as an epilogue to the full length album and help to complete the story that was presented thru the full length album. The 6 'nightmares' explore the poisonous side of life, if we lose focus on the light that exists in the darkness."
Artist: various
Album: Teen Dance Music From China And Malaysia
Release Date: 2002
Quality: mp3 CBR 192
Size: 63 MB
liner notes -
Ran into a small batch of Southeast Asian records at a thrift store this past winter. All dumb luck and good timing, the owner had dropped them off in brown paper bags an hour before I got there. It was hard for me not to get my hopes up þipping through them - the jackets seemed to indicate that I was really scoring. No dates, but they all looked late 60's/early 70's with psychedelia- meets-the-dance-floor cover art and "A-Go-Go" suffixes left and right...
Dengue Fever’s enduring love for an extinct period of Cambodian psychedelic surf-rock never weighs down its fourth album, Cannibal Courtship, but the band’s eccentric lyrical style sometimes does. “Cement Slippers” has a chorus with a New Pornographers-style keyboard hook—one of several welcome power-pop jolts on the album—hampered by verses that repeatedly fall flat as Chhom Nimol and a slop-voiced Zac Holtzman trade dull jokes about a couple having a shitty time together. The chorus of “Thank You Goodbye” (“you’re just another stamp in my passport”) can’t help but sound like a clumsy attempt to make another jet-setting love song like “Tiger Phone Card,” from 2008’s Venus On Earth. But when Nimol sings in her native Khmer and spreads her voice through the slow, eerie “Uku” and “Sister In The Radio,” Dengue Fever’s tiny corner of world music becomes deliriously entrancing again. The images of high-tech missiles on “Family Business” are just black-humored enough to complement the sinister cool of Holtzman’s guitar riff—they can pull off funny here and there—and Nimol’s vocal on the title track conjures Blondie as much as campy seduction. Cannibal Courtship once again proves that Dengue Fever is far more than tacky exotica, even when it can’t shake a few irritating personality tics.Scott Gordon, A.V. Club
