Thursday, June 25, 2009

JDT + Bud Melvin

WFMU is linking here, which is the music blog's equivalent of Time cover. I think I should put the exposure to good use by passing it on to the more deserving folks.

One of the greatest pleasures of running a music blog is meeting interesting people, albeit only virtually. Among the people who left a comment here are The Hound, Monty Stark of Stark Reality, DJ Kalil, Mikey IQ of Brown Wing Overdrive and really many more than I can think of right now. So I will use the opportunity to highlight the projects of two of my readers.


Justin David Thomas - Music From My Bedroom
Listen or download
Pop-musique concrete: JDT creates minimalistic, melodic instrumental music from everyday noises, along with more conventional instrumentation of basses, keyboards in various states of disrepair, guitars etc.etc. Some of the track titles are directly descriptive: Music For Record Player and Found Objects, Music for Piano and Bathtub. The workings of a singular musical mind are showing through the rough seams on these tunes. Recommended!


Bud Melvin - Popular Music
Listen or download
They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but nothing is more improbable than two fellows found in this bed. The albuquerquean Bud Melvin is combining 8bit/chiptune music with bluegrass on his latest release Popular Music. His banjo and steel playing blends surprizingly well with his programming into a single choppy, flickering, pulsing fountain of sound, reminding us that everything new is old again... and new again... and old again...

While you're at it, check out The GREEN ALbum, too.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Jelly Roll Morton - Birth of the Hot 1926-27


Jelly Roll Morton - Birth of the Hot: The Classic Chicago "Red Hot Peppers" Sessions 1926-27
VBR, 94mb on depositfiles
1. Black Bottom Stomp
2. Smoke House Blues
3. The Chant
4. Sidewalk Blues [Take 3]
5. Dead Man Blues [Take 1]
6. Steamboat Stomp
7. Someday Sweetheart
8. Grandpa's Spells [Take 3]
9. Original Jelly-Roll Blues
10. Doctor Jazz
11. Cannon Ball Blues [Take 2]
12. Hyena Stomp
13. Billy Goat Stomp
14. Wild Man Blues
15. Jungle Blues
16. Beale Street Blues
17. The Pearls
18. Wolverine Blues
19. Mr. Jelly Lord
20. Sidewalk Blues [Alt.Take 2]
21. Dead Man Blues [Alt.Take 2]
22. Grandpa's Spells [Alt.Take 2]
23. Cannon Ball Blues [Alt.Take 1]

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Linkage

A contribution by DayGloJoe, who correctly judged that I would find this album interesting, and so would the readers of this blog.

The actual title of this comp is Ryukyu Rare Groove: Shimauta Pops in 60's-70's, but it is also sold by the non-japanese-speaking retailers as Okinawan Groove Collection. Here's a review by Mikey IQ Jones:
A fantastic collection of wonderful, chameleonic Okinawan pop music from the 1960s & '70s, Shimauta Pops showcases brilliant early examples of the collusionist aesthetic that makes Okinawan pop so much fun while being rather forward-thinking in approach. Featuring tracks by the Hoptones, Four Sisters, Yara Family, and Aiko Yohen (though unfortunately none of the info is translated into English), this disc shows the artists fusing traditional Okinawan island melodies and instrumentation with more "modern" western styles -- R'n'B, bossa, Tin Pan Alley, even some wild banjo/fiddle hootenanies! -- though in all honesty what is achieved here proves to be rather modern in itself while maintaining that gorgeous nostalgic questing tone that I love so much in the melodies. The final product often sounds like a much less frenetic cousin to Indian "Bollywood" film music, and as testament to their true pop nature, many of the songs are as infectious as influenza. The overall sound had a BIG influence on Haroumi Hosono (fresh out of Happy End but not yet on his way to Yellow Magic Orchestra) and his excellent mid-'70s trilogy of "tropical" albums -- Tropical Dandy, Bon Voyage Co, and Paraiso -- with shamisens and shakuhachis backed at times by New Orleans or Detroit Soul rhythm sections, steel pans and vibes, and doo-wop harmonies... track 7 even features a shamisen/Moog duet with primitive drum machines plonking away in the back! Overall, this is beautiful, innovative, and best of all, totally fun. Any record that simultaneously makes your head spin and your butt shake gets top marks in my book!


224kbps, 42mb on rapidshare
Unfortunately, the song titles and artists' listing are only in Japanese. See comments for the tracklist.

Some time ago, Solepower left a comment searching for Ernest Ranglin's album Sound and Power. The only copy circulating on the internets is a low-quality vinyl rip that's much shorter than the subsequent CD reissue. Solepower was able to find a better quality complete CD rip and posted it on his blog, here.
You can't go wrong with a Ranglin album!


1. Major Walk
2. Mix Master
3. Sound and Power
4. More Stars
5. West of the Sun
6. Black Man's Train
7. Psychedelic Rock
8. Ranglin Doddlin
9. Mama Top
10. So We Call It
11. Lee Arab
12. Jericho Rocking
13. Less Problem
14. Black Eyed Peas
15. These Eyes
16. Still Water
17. Now

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Essential Preservation Hall Jazz Band


The Essential Preservation Hall Jazz Band
High VBR, 206mb CD1 and CD2 on sharebee
1. Tiger Rag
2. Mood Indigo
3. The Bucket's Got A Hole In It
4. His Eye Is On The Sparrow
5. St. Louis Blues
6. Gerorgia On My Mind
7. Careless Love
8. Precious Lord
9. Joe Avery
10. I Ain't Got Nobody
11. Shake It And Brake It
12. Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Part II
13. When The Saints Go Marchin' In
14. Petite Fleur
15. (True,) You Don't Love Me
16. Jesus On The Main Line
17. Do Lord
18. God Will Take Care Of You
19. Over In Gloryland
20. Bill Bailey (Won't You Please Come Home)
21. Somebody Else Is Taking My Place
22. Lily Of The Valley
23. Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet
24. Hindustan