Various Artists – Canary Records: I’m Not Going: A Macedonian Band from Lorain, Ohio ca. 1954

Canary Records provides yet another stunning archive album, this time from the Macedonian community in Ohio.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Bob Nicoloff’s Macedonian band remained active for at least 20 years, playing for dances organized by the Macedonian Patriotic Organization, weddings, and restaurants. Like the two other mid-Western Macedonian Continue Reading

Yann Tiersen – Ker al Loch (Four Ways) EP

Not a single in the traditional sense, Yann Tiersen’s Ker al Loch (Four Ways) is a contemplative solo piano work that fits in well with his back catalog of contemporary classical music and soundtrack work.  The gem of the EP for me was the track 11 5 18. 1 12. Continue Reading

Various Artists – ቴዎድሮስ ታደሰ, ኩኩ ሰብስቤ, አረጋኸኝ ወራሽ, ነፃነት መለሰ – 4 Stars

Afrosunny Records present a compilation of Ethiopian music that bears the marks of their complicated time signature, but this is imbued with the energy of Ghanian highlife music, giving it a joyous, almost ska-like feeling.  Some of the happiest music I’ve heard in a while. For those of you curious Continue Reading

How the Chinese-Jamaican Community Influenced the Development of Classic Reggae

One of the hazards of teaching teenagers is that you have to deal with bored, unchallenged, spoiled children whose interests are base and crude at best.  However, a few students are willing to stray out of their comfort zone and go exploring.  The topic of reggae came up with one Continue Reading

Vesna Pisarović – Poravna

What an album this is!  The mixing of Sevdah, one of Bosnia’s most melancholic and romantic forms of music, with free improvisation is not something I expected to work, but with the vocals of Croatian singer Vesna Pisarović, Noël Akchoté on guitars, Tony Buck (The Necks) on drums, Greg Cohen Continue Reading

Ahmed Essyad – Moroccan Electroacoustic Music

From the ever-magnificent Sub Rosa Label: “Composer Ahmed Essyad was born in Salé, Morocco, in 1938. After studying music at the Rabat Conservatoire (Morocco) he moved to Paris in 1962, where he became a student of Max Deutsch and, later, his assistant. Trained in the avant-garde practices of Western musical Continue Reading

Tassos Chalkias – Divine Reeds

Radio Martiko usually does a fine job remastering old shellac recordings and making them sound vibrant.  This album by Tassos Chalkias is an incredible example.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Epirótika! Greek psych folk as a soul medicine. A shepherd’s fever dream or spiritual jazz from an ancient world? The Continue Reading

Mamer 马木尔 – Awlaⱪta / Afar 离

Mamer 马木尔 is perhaps my favorite underground artists operating in China today.  His work fuses Kazakh folk music with avant-garde music, bordering on experimental, even though he has a pedigree in working with record labels like Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records.  It’s rare to see an authentic musician dig into Continue Reading

Dust Of Time – The Waking Hours

Greek composer Manolis Fasoulakis (Dust Of Time) joins with the Last American Poet, Shane Beck for an album which deftly combines Fasoulakis’ ethereal sonic landscapes with the haunting poetry of Beck.  If you are into bands like Dead Can Dance, Lycia, Zahmia Lehmanni-era SPK or bands of this caliber, The Continue Reading

Philippe Neau – hORs SoLs

Our friends at Mahorka Records introduce us to yet another brilliant composer.  Phillippe Neau masterfully uses nature sounds to paint sonic ‘pictures’ that envelop the listener.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “”I started with sounds from different places: the house, the garden, the workshop, the forest next door in Mayenne, Continue Reading