Expand your taste in music. Based in Beijing, China.
Filalete are a project released on the estimable Borenail Records, who specialize in weirder, more neglected scenes like witchhouse, vaporwave and the like. The band produces a really pleasant sweeping sort of ambient, easy to drown your thoughts in. My favorite track was Sweet Nectar, which manages to balance electronic music and post-rock sublimely. A fine record.
This record is the latest $5 (in this case, $7 for being a double-album) special, a long out-of-print avant-jazz classic. From the release website:
“Out-of print on vinyl for over 25 years, this is the first release of the two album collaborations (Coxhill/Miller Miller/Coxhill and “The Story So Far…” “Oh Really?”) between saxist Lol Coxhill and pianist Steve Miller (the pianist, not the rock guitarist), who first worked together in Delivery and continued their partnership for several years afterwards.
These albums are quite fondly remembered by those luckily enough to own them for their unique personality and low-key approach to improvisation and composition and feature guests such as Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Pip Pyle, Archie Legget, Laurie Allan and Robert Wyatt.
Produced, remastered and with liner notes by Michael King, the material is presented in the absolute best possible sonics. We’ve also included the last known interview with Steve to help shed light on his career and found some great, rare photos to include in the huge, 20 page booklet.”
Ulaan Passerine is one of many aliases used by Los Angeles-based guitarist Steven R. Smith. This latest album is a shimmery walk into guitar instrumental territory. Smith produces an elegant kind of instrumental music that would sit well with both post-rock fans and those into a more mellow psychedelic vibe. Think along the terms of the band Oregon as a reference. Not ‘easy’ listening, but ‘gentle’ listening. Well done.
Analog Africa, one of my favorite reissue labels, is going well above its mission of reissuing African treasures and is now delving deep into the music mines of South America – in this case, Ecuador. Polibio Mayorga was a hit-writing machine during the early days of Ecuadorian rock, but he also had an interest in sci-fi, weirdly lounge-influenced music and his native cumbia. From the release’s Bandcamp site:
“In the decades after the second world war, outer space was on everyone’s mind and the ‘space race’ of the 1950s and 60s not only produced groundbreaking efforts to launch artificial satellites, send space probes to Mars and land a human on the moon, it also had a huge impact on the movie and music industry which was taking advantage of the world’s fascination with space voyages and lunar missions to create instruments capable of mimicking imaginary interstellar sounds. These synthesised space effects that captivated the imagination of a whole generation of young Ecuadoreans coincided with a period in which workers and musicians from the provinces started flocking to Quito and to the commercial port of Guayaquil, some hoping to find regular work, others looking to break into the musical big leagues by getting hired by one of the prestigious urban radio station. These artists brought riches of rhythms to the major Ecuadorian cities who would soon witness the explosion of what would be known as “Andean Cumbia.”
…
Polibio has never considered his music to be “tropical psychedelia” – although he thinks it would make a good name for a band. He has the sense of humour of a genius and the ability to make anyone laugh, yet he remains discreet, eloquent and humble … but as a musician he is daring and visionary, with an intrepid, vigorous style almost impossible to imitate. More than perhaps any of his peers, Polibio Mayorga established a unique place for himself at the vanguard of tropical music.“
This is another stunning collection from Dagoretti Records out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The collection features music from the 1930s until the 1970s with clearly remastered sound. From the release’s Bandcamp site:
“Nyatiti music’s infectious and hypnotic sounds are unforgettable. The driving beat of the nyatiti rings of far off styles of Western dance and techno music. Nyatiti players are highly respected performers in both rural and urban Kenya are called to show up at weddings, funerals and drinking halls and sing songs in tribute, in remembrance and for people to drink and dance to. Nyatiti music can still be heard to this day all over Kenya, but these recordings represent the unique sound of the first half of the 20th century, and the last visages of the sounds that existed for millennia previous before the music would change to adapt to a changing world.
…
Most of these recordings were made by British and Indian entrepreneurs, who sold 78 rpm records to foreign and domestic record buyers. These records were in part intended to document what was seen as an exotic and possibly dying music in colonial Kenya but enjoyed by Afro-Kenyans who presumably listened to these records at parties or through radio. Unfortunately, not much is known about the origin of these records or who bought them. The scant information included on the records make tracing the roots of this music difficult.”
A great document of a rarely covered genre of music.
Though the birthday was absolutely dour, I managed to cheer myself up with a release of experiments done by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, the beloved magus of ambient music. These were sketches, apparently, that he would record, analyze, and then turn into new ideas. Comfortable listening.
Post Doom Romance is a project between Mykel Boyd and Seah, and their collaboration produces a collection of sweeping drones dedicated to their supporters, immortalizing them on disc. A noble project, but more importantly, the sound is engaging and hooks the listener into a pleasant ambient lull.
Reverse Image are a project out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who produce absolutely stunning ritualistic experimental music. There’s a hint of early Nurse With Wound mixed in here as well. All respect is due to their label, Khatulistiwa 赤道, for alerting me to this gem.
One of Australia’s most important, if overlooked, musicians, Louis Tillett, passed away on August 6. He started off as a musician who experimented with Industrial music in his first band, Wet Taxis, but ended up developing a rough, bluesy style that could really only be compared, vocally, to fellow Australian Nick Cave. When I was 23, I had started working at a local record shop after traveling a bit called Aron’s Records, and this album, already 6 years old at the time, came onto my desk, as we had first dibs on used albums and CDs. It blew my mind, and I sought out more, not knowing that eventually, I’d end up striking a conversation with the man himself online. It’s a tremendous regret that, although I was living in Skopje at the time, I never had the opportunity to cross over to Greece to meet Louis. May he rest in peace.
Our friends at Jettenbach, a fascinating project from England, have prepared for us a Martian travelogue. The concept sounds like something taken directly from a sci-fi movie, dialog and all, and it’s quite an interesting thing to hear. The music drifts from floating experimental ambient to hard-beat. This shifts genres rather quickly, so listening was a bit of an adventure, though a worthy one.