Month: October 2023

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Syriana – H​ā​rim

Syriana are an interesting project released by Real World Records.  Here’s the back story, courtesy of the label’s Bandcamp site:

“In 2010 Syriana’s album The Road to Damascus presented a musical reflection by Nick Page & Bernard O’Neill of their take on the geopolitical landscape surrounding Syria at the time. Sadly their assertions that a third cold war was being initiated in that region were proved to be true and the conflict and upheaval that followed destroyed much of the rich cultural heritage of the region and dispersed millions of its people.

Now in 2023 the new Syriana album 1325 Ibn Battutah plots the three decades that a lone traveller journeyed through known world, from Morocco to Syria, Turkmenistan, India, Africa and Spain and once more home to Tangiers. Sadly Nick Page passed away before its completion but it will be released later this year.”

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Mimik Banka 表情銀行 – 狗​日​子​ (Dog Days)

One of the benefits of being in Beijing at a high-grade academy is that I run into some rather brilliant young minds who are turning me on to great local music, case in point being Mimik Banka, who listeners would compare their music favorably to acts like dream pop and pop-psych bands like Dream Academy during their less somber moments and Khruangbin in places, and something radically their own in other spots.  Perhaps my new favorite Chinese indie band at the moment.

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Luther Thomas Human Arts Ensemble – Funky Donkey Vol. 1

Yet another vinyl masterpiece, reissued to perfection, comes to us from Wewantsounds.  This gem features a big player in the St. Louis jazz scene, Luther Thomas.  From the label’s press release:

“A gang reunion, an effort of revitalization, a headbangers’ blowout, a legendary “lost” recording, a snapshot of its time, prophetic of sounds to come – Funky Donkey is all those things, but worth attention most ’cause after 50 years it’s still fun to hear. Alto saxophonist-ringleader Luther Thomas and his St. Louis cohort comprising the Human Arts Ensemble live large on this album, conveying as if right now the sense of adventure, ambition, spontaneity and freedom resulting in a hard-core musical experience, suggesting others try the same.

In the early 1970s the St. Louis jazz scene had enjoyed a renaissance and suffered a talent-drain. It was known then and today for the Black Artists’ Group, a cooperative which, through a local arts support program generated in part by the great dancer-choreographer-ethnographer Katherine Dunham’s Performing Arts Training Center had given rise to composer-saxophonists Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Hamiett Bluiett (later, 3/4s of the World Saxophone Quartet) among many other creative musicians, dance and theater troupes and new arts presenters.”

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Wara – El Inca

Bolivia is a country who rarely pop up on my radar.  Thankfully, today we have a hard-rock/psychedelic gem to present to you.  Wara were influenced by hard-rock giants like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, but they also added touches of their own Bolivian heritage to their music. Straddling the borders of psych, hard rock and prog, this album is considered to be one of the holy grails of South American rock music.

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The Modern Jazz & Folk Ensemble – I’ve Got A Feeling (feat. Jacqui McShee)

Sean Khan has a sterling reputation working with jazz legends like Hermeto Pascoal, but the fact that he is pairing with Pentangle chanteuse Jacqui McShee makes this single from Acid Jazz Records crucial listening.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“Earlier this year we announced The Modern Folk & Jazz Ensemble, led by saxophonist Sean Khan. Ahead of a special appearance at the London Jazz Festival on 16 November, we are releasing their first single ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ on all digital platforms on 11 October.

We’re very excited to be working with Sean on this project – one of our favourite albums of the past few years was Sean’s ‘Supreme Love: A Journey Through John Coltrane’. This work pays tribute to the sounds of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s folk revival, recast and reimagined in a jazz setting. ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ sets the tone perfectly, with Sean’s arrangement and the group performance taking this Pentangle track back to it’s modal jazz origins and beyond.”

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Abu Ama + BedouinDrone – Dawlat L​ī​biyyā

Abu Ama and BedouinDrone’s most recent collaboration, Dawlat L​ī​biyyā, is being presented to the world by Mahorka Records, who have released this album as a well-deserved vinyl edition as well as a adding an extra track added to the digital version.  The duo released several albums both together and individually for the record label before, but this will be their first vinyl release for Mahorka, and we are hoping that many more releases appear.

As an aside, the artwork was done by longtime Mahorka resident designer Angel Draganov, based on calligraphy paintings by Brett Tassenon, which is an absolutely stunning thing to look at on a digital format.  I can only imagine how gorgeous the actual vinyl edition must look.

About the music…  Absolutely crunchy, grinding beats which blend Middle Eastern rhythms and found sound into a post-Industrial gruel that acts like Muslimgauze (these days just a grift of Bryn Jones’ leftover experiments) only hinted at.  I say this as a fan of early Muslimgauze, where the aforementioned Mr. Jones used his imagination and political fervor for the Islamic world cause-du-jour to give his brutal and gritty music a more radical edge, Abu Ama and BedouinDrone imbue their beats with a more honest, authentic feeling.

 

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Clarice Jensen – Ainu Mosir

Brooklyn-based composer and cellist Clarice Jensen has an incredible resume, including performing on new releases from both Michael Stipe and Taylor Swift as well as well as being the artistic director of ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.  This release is from her first soundtrack.  Information from her Bandcamp site follows:

“The fifteen-minute long 5-track EP was recorded at Jensen’s home in Brooklyn. It was performed on cello and electronics and also sees Clarice expanding her ouevre into works for piano. The material comprises her first feature film comission, since which Clarice has worked on three more, and so marks the beginning of working in a medium in which she is hoping to grow…

Directed by Takeshi Fukunaga, ‘Ainu Mosir’ is a coming-of-age tale set in an indigenous village in Northern Japan, where a community‘s livelihood depends on preserving and performing ancient traditions for visiting tourists. Torn between maintaining the tradition of his ancestors and lured by the mysteries of adulthood, 14-year-old Kanto is on a journey to find a sense of self.”

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Akiko Yano – To Ki Me Ki

There is no better way to tell the story of this gorgeous and lovingly remastered release by Akiko Yano than to let our dear friends at Wewantsounds to explain it for themselves:

“Wewantsounds is proud to continue its Akiko Yano reissue series with the release of the singer’s third studio album ‘To Ki Me Ki’, recorded in New York and originally issued in 1978 in Japan. It follows her cult “Iroha Ni Konpeitou” LP and retains a similar blend of Japanese pop and New York funk. “To Ki Me Ki” features such musicians as Rick Marotta, Will Lee and David Spinozza and also programmer Hideki Matsutake who would soon join the YMO with Akiko for their international 1979/1980 tour before she recorded her next studio album “Tadaima” that year, featuring the YMO musicians. “To Ki Me Ki” is reissued outside of Japan for the first time, remastered in Tokyo by revered engineer Mitsuo Koike and featuring original artwork by Tsutomu Murakami with 4 page colour insert and new liner notes by Paul Bowler.

1978 was a key year for Japanese Music. Yellow Magic Orchestra was about to release their ground-breaking debut album. All musicians involved had also released key solo albums that year (Sakamoto with “Thousand Knives“, Takahashi with “Saravah” and Hosono with “Paraiso“). Akiko Yano  (who would soon join the YMO on tour for their first international tour) was no exception, releasing the brilliant “To Ki Me Ki”. Having started her career with a bang recording “Japanese Girl” in 1976 with Little Feat, Akiko had quickly established herself as a leading force on the Japanese music scene.”

Read the rest of the promo material here. This is rightly seen as a timeless record.