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Various Artists – Keb Darge & Cut Chemist Present The Dark Side: 28 Sixties Garage Punk And Psyche Monsters

Legendary Scottish Northern Soul DJ Keb Darge teams up with Jurassic 5 DJ and producer Cut Chemist to release 28 magnificent tracks of classic garage punk and psychedelic rock.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“Picking up where they left off on the 2007 compilation ‘Lost & Found – Rockabilly & Jump Blues’, Keb Darge & Cut Chemist join forces once again, this time to explore the wonderful world of 1960s Garage music. While Rockabilly could be defined as a DIY emulation of the music of Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and others by young American artists, Garage was heavily influenced by British bands of the day like the Beatles, Kinks & Rolling Stones. Simple drum kits, guitars and the occasional organ keep the sound honest and raw, retaining a palpable sense of excitement even to this day. With a multitude of bands springing up all over the USA, many of these wonderful records were released in tiny numbers, making certain titles almost impossible to find. Keb Darge’s love affair with this intriguing genre happened almost by accident, while on the hunt for obscure Northern Soul records. “DJ Shadow told me I would like Garage years ago, but I didn’t listen.” Hearing a few records he liked and being assured by collectors that they were classified as ‘Garage’ got him hooked, so for the last years he’s been digging obsessively for the stuff. Knowing Cut Chemist was a collector, he suggested they collaborate on a compilation, and ‘The Dark Side’ was born. 30 obscure records, some of which change hands for frightening amounts of money, all with wonderful stories attached as told in Keb’s encyclopedic and entertaining liner notes.”

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Mahotella Queens – Abaculi Bethu / Umculo Kawupheli

Today’s share is a joyful slice of township jive out of South Africa from the legendary Mahotella Queens.  It’s a tragedy that it took a cretinous thief like Malcolm McLaren to turn the world on to such music.  From the Umsakazo Records Bandcamp site:

“The reach and influence of “Umculo Kawupheli” spread far beyond its intended destination. In 1981, the song was plagiarised note-for-note by punk rock manager Malcolm McLaren, who replaced the meaningful isiZulu words with soundalike English gibberish to create “Jungle Boy (See Jungle)” for his new wave band Bow Wow Wow. The song’s origins were not acknowledged and all composing royalties went to McLaren and the artists. After McLaren more flagrantly lifted additional mbaqanga songs for his solo 1983 record “Duck Rock”, the fledgling Earthworks label brought the plagiarisms to light by licensing 1974’s “Umculo Kawupheli” compilation for the Western market as “Duck Food”. Two further releases – the Earthworks compilation “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” and Paul Simon’s “Graceland” – resulted in the first overseas tours by Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, ensuring the wider world was able to hear authentic mbaqanga as originally intended, directly from the pioneers of the style.”

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PoiL Ueda – PoiL Ueda

This is a heavy, near-monstrous release involving Japanese singer and bassis Junko Ueda and the French avant-prog group PoiL.  From their Bandcamp site:

“PoiL Ueda is the result of a collaboration between Junko Ueda, a vocalist and satsuma-biwa player from Japan, and PoiL, a French rock/contemporary music band. The creation is based on the 13th-century Japanese epic tale “Heike-Monogatari.”

The composition is based on traditional epic singing accompanied by the satsuma-biwa and Buddhist Shomyo chant. Through the fusion of an ancient Japanese traditional music with a hyper modern European musical formation, this project offers the opportunity to discover a unique musical universe.

An innovative performance where PoiL’s unrestrained experimental rock blends with the mellow and sinuous voice, the compelling narrative, and the remarkable charisma of Junko Ueda.“

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Various Artists – Mainstream Disco Funk

Our friends at Wewantsounds have come out with another banger, this time

From the label’s Bandcamp site:

“In the mid-70s, Bob Shad’s cult New York Jazz label Mainstream Records turned to the burgeoning underground Disco scene and released a handful of great singles produced by the likes of Tommy Stewart, Jimmy Roach or Bert DeCoteaux. Featuring artists from the early Disco hotbed including South Side Coalition, Chocolate Syrup and Three Ounces of Love, these singles, proving Shad’s great flair, accompanied the rise of the New York club and block party culture that was going to revolutionise the musical landscape a few years later. Most of the singles are officially reissued here on vinyl for the first time, with Three Ounces of Love’s “Disco Man” full mix previously unissued on vinyl. Remastered by Colorsound Studio in Paris, with liner notes by Charles Waring.”

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Sieben – Feel The Fever (Single)

Our dear friend, the Mighty Sieben himself, Matt Howden, is launching a series of 10 singles under the banner BRAND NEW DARK AGE.  For those of you who were wise enough to support Matt’s Patreon, you will be receiving the first chance to hear these, and the tracks will be free to patrons supporting the Sieben cause.  For the rest of you, prepare yourselves for a year of a perfect balance of neofolk, goth, and post-punk.

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Badieh – Badieh

This is quite a pairing.  Badieh consist of Spaniard Michel Gasco, who plays oud and rebab, pairs with Iranian musician Mohammed Miragharzadeh on tar and setar.

From Badieh’s Bandcamp site:

“Worlds Within Worlds is proud to announce the release of Badieh’s self-titled debut album – a collection of mystifying folk pieces from the Greater Khorasan region of Iran and Afghanistan.

A collaboration between two masters of their craft, Badieh is the project of Michel Gasco and Mohammad Miraghazadeh. A step past Gasco’s previous Orontes project, these delicate reinterpretations of traditional Khorasani folk track takes his instrumentation to new heights. Each strum is crafted to perfection, perfectly complemented by Miraghazdeh’s expertise in Persian classical music. Those with a keen ear may hear similarities between Badieh’s music and the sounds of Mohammad Rahim Khushnawaz, Sima Bina and Ensemble Kaboul.”

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David Bowie – Lodger (2017 Remix) – Classic Music Review

Thirty years on, still no one is quite sure where to place Lodger. In a way, that’s appropriate: as the title suggests, it’s a record that doesn’t …

David Bowie – Lodger (2017 Remix) – Classic Music Review

I’ve had the pleasure of following altrockchick for a good while now. This is one of the best reads on a reissue I’ve perused in at least a year, so I am happy to introduce my readers to her stellar work.

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Dur-Dur Band Int. – The Berlin Session

Somalia’s Dur-Dur Band have released fresh material, so if you’re interested in Somali music, Afrobeat, funk or soul, you might want to pick this up quickly. From the band’s Bandcamp site:

“The Berlin Session travels far beyond the gems collected from dusty cassettes. It is a bridge between the sorrow of all that has been and the delight of a magic which survived, a shining pearl rescued alive from the Atlantean fate of forever drowning in the Indian Ocean.”

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Karolina Ossowska & Jeff Gburek – Ariadne’s Thread

I’m used to expecting amazing things from composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Gburek, and certainly so when he pairs with violinist Karolina Ossowska, but this is a shockingly good album even with such expectations.

The album has four compositions which are about as gentle and pleasing as anything I’ve heard in the past few years.  It’s farther out than, say, Kosmische Musik, yet elegantly restrained.  This is music for taking an inner journey and finding what terrain lies inside of yourself.

Don’t think of missing this one, I implore you.