Sunday, May 20, 2012

spiritual enlightenment from a fatal cure.

Reissue of this 1971 classic. An exotic cocktail of jazz, Brazilian music, flamenco influences and spaghetti-western soundtracks." This LP pays tribute to a celebrated Spanish composer for TV, film and pop, Alfonso Santisteban, with his 'Sabor A Fresa' classic now benefiting from an extra track taken from the ultra rare 'Enseñar a un sinverguenza' soundtrack. Some of it sounds like the sort of thing your nan might crack on when she's just got back off holiday and tucked into the duty free, but there's also a couple of corking Brazilian breaks and some sumptuous lounge vibes that you're not going to find elsewhere. - boomkat

i bought this last night, & much like that conjunto jam i posted, i just had to share this one. it's the perfect mix of exotica, giallo steez, & brazillian space pop. this put the biggest smile on my face & i'm sure it will do the same for you as well!

Friday, May 18, 2012

i just wasn't made for these times.


brian wilson is the greatest songwriter of all time. he was also the best producer of all time. i think a lot of people forget about that aspect of his earlier career. this is a collection of projects he worked on. dig the honeys which was brian's wife at the time & how much they sound like a mix between the beach boys & the ronettes. if brian hadn't been derailed by mike love, he could have single handedly changed the face of modern humanity. or at least produced some really amazing albums. anyway, you should grab this & throw it on now that the weather is warming up for y'all.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

cruising around the mediterranean desert in a yacht made of tumbleweeds..



two totally different albums from morricone. danger diabolik is some groovin spy thriller/giallo steez, while for a few dollars more is that sparse spaghetti western shit he became famous for. both are great in their own respective ways. what is yr favorite morricone album? i feel like i might have already tried to start this conversation before...

driving down pch.


chris rouse has been a friend of mine for more than half my life. he is one of the most genuine & caring & passionate human beings i have ever known. his lyrics in this band is what really makes this record special. extremely political from a humanist position, brimming with righteous anger... haha. sorry if you ever read this chris. i have always felt he was a special guy, & this was just the right band for him. the perfect mix of chokehold, trial, & unbroken, some of our favorite bands growing up. it's weird to be posting this because i remember when we were young brahs, & now he has been in this really popular band & toured the world & turned down doing vocals for outspoken. & everytime i come into town he's always the same guy who has time to get coffee & talk poetry with me. anyway, this record is for those times when a molotov cocktail through a window is the only option.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

rise of the real south.


Listen to Mexican arpa grande ensemble Arpex, and you will hear a remarkable demonstration of Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot land) signature musical tradition. The people of this hot, flat region are united by the Tepalcatepec River basin, rich farmlands, and the sound of one of Mexico's liveliest, most historically rooted, flourishing, and best-kept musical secrets: the conjunto de arpa grande (big harp ensemble). Arpex interprets the classic Michoacán song repertoire of sones, jarabes, valonas, and especially canciones rancheras that calenteños (natives of Tierra Caliente) from both sides of the Mexican and USA border continue to enjoy today.

The standard conjunto de arpa grande consists of five instruments. The group's namesake, the arpa grande (big harp), is a 37-stringed (this number may vary slightly) harp about five feet tall, which is leaned against the musician's shoulder in a standing position. It is joined by two regional guitars (vihuela and guitarra de golpe) and two violins.

Most listeners are struck by the calenteño singing style, often pitched in a range so high that it seems impossible for male voices. Some assume that this singing, with little or no vibrato, is accomplished through falsetto, but it is not. Having at least one singer with an ultrahigh voice is an important asset to a professional conjunto de arpa, and capable singers are trained from an early age. Arpex boasts two such skilled singers: the brothers Rafael and Javier Valdovinos.

Drumming (tamboreo) is another dimension of the conjunto de arpa sound. One of the guitarists or violinists kneels next to the harp and strikes the flat front of the soundbox with his fingers. This drumming is used exclusively for sones. It can be complex, and some observers have called it virtuosic. Arpex continues this centuries-old method of drumming when they include guest performer Arcadio García Ortiz.

The conjunto de arpa grande is sometimes regarded as the country version of the Mexican mariachi. In the first half of the 20th century, mariachi came to mean an evolved type of musical ensemble identified with the city of Jalisco, as it added trumpets, more violins, and six-stringed guitars to its instrumentations. The mariachi ensemble became more commercialized in the film and music industries. All the while, the mariachi's rural cousin, the conjunto de arpa grande, remained at home, out of the commercial spotlight, playing as always for weddings, baptism, birthdays, funerals, and other local events. Though the mariachi ensemble may have eclipsed the conjunto de arpa grande in popularity and commercial success for many years, the traditional sound is enjoying a resurgence in Mexico with commercial groups such as Conjunto Alma de Apazingán and at government-sponsored festivals. The music is also gaining popularity in the Western and Pacific Northwest USA with Michoacano migration throughout California, Washington, Oregon, and Utah and young groups, such as Arpex, introducing the sound to their new communities.

Members of Arpex are native to calenteño towns and ranches, where they learned to play from family members and honed their musical skills performing in local conjuntos. Miguel Prado Mora, director and harpist, is from Chapula; Arnoldo Galván Segura, violinist, is from Las Canolitas; brothers Javier and Rafael Valdovinos Acevedo, vocals, violin, and guitarra de golpe, are from El Aguacito; and Ramón Isabel Ramos Gómez, vihuela, is the only non-Michoacano member from Guadalajara, Jalisco. As participants in the historic migration route of Michoacanos into California, most members of Arpex moved to the USA in the 1990s and now reside in the San Joaquin Valley town of Atwater, CA. The group has been performing together, under Miguel Prado's leadership, since 2003. With most members aged in their late 20s or early 30s, Arpex represents a current movement among Mexican and Mexican-American youth to explore and reclaim traditional and rural Mexican music and use it to create dialogue and cultural exchange between Mexico and the USA.

Arpex, like most traditional arpa grande groups, plays an important role in their community and has consistent work performing at local religious and social events such as quinceañeras, weddings, birthdays, and baptisms. Yet Arpex also plays at large events with world-class groups such as Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, and they performed with Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano at Radio Bilingüe's annual ¡Viva el Mariachi! Festival in Fresno, CA, in 2007. To create a fuller sound for the larger venues, the group has the ability to "go electric" by adding a drum set, electric bass, and microphones.

Arpex's impressive musicality and high range, calenteño singing style rank them amongst the best arpa grande groups on either side of the border. Their talent was recognized with a 2007 Latin Grammy nomination for their Smithsonian Folkways recording ¡Tierra Caliente!. In some ways, the nomination was also a recognition of the resurgence of the traditional conjunto de arpa grande sound and its growing popularity throughout Mexico and the USA. - smithsonian website


this is the holy grail kiddos. stop yr musical endeavoring, this is the end of the line. this is the music of my youth growing up in the desert of california, & even when we moved to the coast you would hear this floating out of windows on warm nights. absolutely amazing. i remember childhood trips south of the border on a pretty frequent basis where we would all pile into my grandpa's rv & take a road trip through beautiful mexico. & maybe this is my bias speaking, but the people i've met from michoacán are some of the most warm, gracious open & welcoming people you would ever wish to meet. if this doesn't move you cats, then you have no fucking heart.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Friday, May 11, 2012

the forest has eyes.


grabbed this off of warbles forever ago, really loved it back then. gypsy folk for sunday morning trips to the other side.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

scenes in the city.


this is absolutely one of my favorite post rock records ever. i bought this right when it came out because it had members of crimson curse & guyver one, two of my favorite bands at the time. i loved the artwork for the cover, & i stared at the record sleeve (this was '99 after all & i was one of those vinyl nerds) everytime i would put it on. the first song golden hill made it onto every single mixtape i made for anyone when this came out. tristeza used clean guitars in this amazingly propulsive ways to build stunning dynamics without falling into the cliched tropes of soft loud soft that many bands like this do. really emotionally gripping, i think the closest might be the mercury program or six parts seven. this soundtracked many hot hazy summertime afternoon naps after i spent all day at the beach.

Friday, May 4, 2012

arrow heads.


some forgotten band from mid seventies los angeles that only put out one album & never played outside of california & sounds like sparks & isn't posted everywhere? how is this possible? this is going to be one of my summer albums ya dig?

she shadows me in the mirror.


replikants were pretty interesting because they were the first unwound side band to not sound like an unwound side band. bizarre skronky jazz meets analog power electronics. don't pass up on this one folks, it's a keeper. the booklet suggests you play this on random, which i also suggest. it makes for an engaging & different listening experience every time. sorry for the poor quality photo, it's the best i can find on the prairie.

tropical belles.


more teenage mutant glue huffing channel surfing neon jams from everybody's favorite martyr of 2k11. not quite as good as grippers nother onesers, but definitely still very much worth yr while.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

fred mertz was most likely a bad poet & a pervert.


this is a really special & meaningful record to me. i don't wanna stranger danger tmi y'all, so i'll just say that the first i hate myself song on here made it onto plenty of mixtapes made for friends back in the late nineties. i never really listened to the twelve hour turn side too much because i was captivated by the sheer emotion exuded by the ihm cats. no idea hardcore influenced by ebullition. i still listen to this all the time. it's one of my desert records fer shure comrades. i also want to share a piece of my youth culture with my kid brother who is experiencing his own youth culture right now which is exciting to see blossom. here's to yr adventures young pioneer.

dtx represent.


this cat came up to me at a bus stop last summer in dallas & traded me his mixtape for two cigarettes & a promise that i send him some of my beats. i didn't really know what to expect from the cover & the fact that a dude gave me his cd for two cigarettes, but i was excited to check it out. this cd has gotten so many plays since that day. real heavy southern hip hop, the kind that was coming out of houston circa '06. i never did send that cat any beats, but i did chop & screw some of his steez for a few of my mixtapes. anyway, put this on & turn the bass up real loud.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

one sided tape looping infinitely.


chuck person is the nom de plume of daniel lopatin (kgb man, skyramps, infinity window, total system point never, games, oneohtrix point never). nothing like anything he has done... well, i guess this was kind of the precursor of the new opn album replica. i didn't really care for that album, but this chuck person tape is dope as fuck. chopped & screwed steez perfect for green afternoons.

mannequin blues.


a bunch of icelandic cats (múm, amiina, benni hemm hemm) get together to make romanian folk jams. a much more refined version of taraf de haïdouks, less street & more opera house. a studied take on gypsy folk, this is a really fantastic album. if anyone is interested in hearing taraf de haïdouks, leave a comment & i'll throw some up for y'all.