Dear readers,
At the moment I have nothing meaningful to say on the musical subjects, but want to say I appreciate having readers whether you leave comments or not, and doubly appreciate the comments with suggestions, astute culturological analysis, or shares. Below is some of the excellent stuff posted lately throughout the blog in comments:

The Wrigglers: Sing Calypso at the Arawak (1958) with the great Ernest Ranglin on guitar at the Easy Jams blog (original vinyl rips and great commentary)

Yuko Ikoma - Moisture with Music Box (2008) - Eric Satie on a music box, very surprising and effective readings of his music, on Hypnagogic Travels

Olivier Messian - Les Corps Glorieux (Organ Works III) - "kinda cosmic stuff, very deep and unusual" - in FLAC, thanks to Symbolkid!

John Sousa, the great aphorist

These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy... in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape. - A submission to a 1906 congressional hearing. @

Also, Sousa on music piracy (a letter to the editor).

I also stumbled on a lengthy article how Victor, makers of the "talking machines," created its own audience - on the social construction of listening to recorded music. Good stuff; did not finish it yet though.

Arie antiche

As it might be apparent from this blog, I think the topic of musical authenticity is fascinating. What was authentic to the generation of our grandparents became fake for our parents and then is picked up and dusted off, to be discarded again with the changing fashion and interests. One example from pop music is the 50's exotica trend. For their contemporaries Martin Denny and Les Baxter were the true troubadours of faraway lands; then they became the cheese peddlers, and now they are "the authentic exotica movement of 50's."

Recently I stumbled onto another example from the classical world. Several extended quotes from Wiki and elsewhere after the jump:

"Google vs. everyone" - Larry Downes on information sharing and copyright law. A thoughtful and well-written article that touches on the rhetoric of online stealing and piracy.

An amusing iPod-related rant

Did you know iPods are tracking devices that government uses to control the populace? Beats an implanted skull chip, 'cause iPods can also play music!

QotD - Hesse on recorded music

And in fact, to my indescribable astonishment and horror, the devilish tin trumpet spat out, without more ado, a mixture of bronchial slime and chewed rubber; that noise that owners of gramophones and radios have agreed to call music. And behind the slime and the croaking there was, sure enough, like an old master beneath a layer of dirt, the noble outline of that divine music. [...] Observe how this crazy funnel apparently does the most stupid, the most useless and the most damnable thing in the world. It takes hold of some music played where you please, without distinction, stupid and coarse, lamentably distorted, to boot, and chucks it into space to land where it has no business to be; and yet after all this it cannot destroy the original spirit of the music; it can only demonstrate its own senseless mechanism, its inane meddling and marring. - Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf

Is that poetic or what? "Bronchial slime and chewed rubber," that's a great name for a music blog.

QotD - Sleazy on CDs

I would have thought that CDs were things that homeless people hang on their super market shopping carts to make them look less depressing but apparently some Americans still buy them for the data they contain. - The late Sleazy of Throbbing Gristle and Coil

Dear all,
I've been out of circulation for some time. I might resume posting every once in a while, but probably not as often as before. Thanks to the people who comment and special thanks to people who recommend new music!

Meanwhile, check out the project of the fellow blogger Omer Saar:
THE GREEN ALBUM is... a full-length Hip-Hop remix album over all Al Green sample-made beats. Get it here

Holiday!

I need to get a life rest and recharge.
There would be no updates for a month or so.

PS The big argument is moved off the front page. I appreciate the thought-provoking comments by the readers, and all are welcome to (continue to) voice your opinions.

Linkage

I am listening to Rio Baile Funk: Favela Booty Beats compilation: The most brutally raw music I've heard in ages is exploding from the ghettos of Rio De Janiero @.
Read a review, get it from here.

Also, two blogs to recommend:
http://sacundinbenblog.blogspot.com/
Great selection of samba/pop from 60s to modern stuff, and a lot of good music in general.
http://leclubderock.blogspot.com/
Rare and obscure funk collections and more.

200th posting

This will be an attempt to compile my top ten list of posts in no particular order. If you are browsing for something interesting, but don't know where to start, try one of these.

Los Zafiros - Bossa Cubana

Love, Peace, and Poetry Vol.3 - Asian Psychedelic Music

Orchestra Baobab - Pirate's Choice + Bamba

Brazil: Forro - Music For Maids and Taxi Drivers

Je Pense A Toi: The Best of Amadou and Mariam + Dimanche A Bamako

Bollywood Brass Band + Fanfare Ciocarlia - Gili Garabdi

Fade To Bluegrass: A Bluegrass Tribute To Metallica

Blind Boy Fuller - Truckin' My Blues Away

Emmett Miller - The Minstrel Man From Georgia

Red Snapper - Prince Blimey

Thanks to all the visitors; double thanks to those who left a comment; triple thanks to those who link here!!!

Tube amp for iPods

Tube amp for iPods
I am at a loss for words...

Links

Rockin’ Bones! 4 CDs of 1950’s Punk & Rockabilly
review, download

Another interesting find is Tinariwen - a band of nomadic touareg warriors from Southern Sahara who recently decided to have a career change and go into music. They play what they call "desert blues" - several electric guitars playing simple pentatonic riffs over handclaps, footstomps and ululations. Their last album made it onto the Pitchfork's list of 50 greatest albums of 2007 at number 50, and it's the only one I heard on that list.

The band's name means "empty places" which certainly reflects their desert homeland. Forced from their nomadic life in the Sahara, they were fighters in the Touareg insurgency against the Malian government. So, the band formed in 1982 in Colonel Ghadaffi's rebel camps.
The Libyan leader recruited this nation-less and disenfranchised people with promises to help them in their cause. Ghadaffi implied that he would train the Kel Tamashek and provide weapons to fight for their independence from the Malian government, but eventually the stateless rebels slowly realized that Ghadaffi's only intention was to use these fierce fighters in his own wars...
They have combined traditional musical forms with a modern rebellious and radical rock sensibility -- traditional instruments such as the teherdent lute and shepherd flute were discarded in favor of the electric guitar, electric bass and drums.
Their Music is loosely based on traditional Touareg music and the harsh melodies of the one-stringed Touareg violin, but also incorporates influences such as Bob Marley together with the other disparate influences, both western and middle eastern, which managed to penetrate that far into the desert.

An interview

The Radio Tisdas Sessions, 2000: rapidshare, 74mb; rapidshare, 99mb.

Amassakoul ("Traveller"), 2004: rapidshare 98mb; filesend, 58mb; rapidshare, 67mb; badongo, 67mb.

Aman Iman: Water is Life, 2007: megaupload, 65mb; zshare, 73mb; badongo, 51mb.

A great article on how piracy is good and why the major labels deserve to die.
Does not really justify my activities here (I doubt there's a single album I shared so far that came out on a major - except maybe for ZZ Top), but still worth a read.

Also, a great blog: na Bula Bula.
See the gypsy tag for some Fanfare Ciocarlia and more Balkan goodies; see the arabe tag for Cheb Khaled's Kenza along with several other Chebs.

Interesting article

Pirates ahoy! And they're wielding their iPods!

Return of the walking dead

I don't want to revive my blog yet, but there are some good finds that I have to share. So consider this blog undead. I probably won't upload much myself, just post the links from elsewhere.

Goodbye

Dear readers of this blog,
The end is not just in sight, the end is here. I regret to inform you all that I will not be posting here in the near future. It's been a pleasure to share my favorite music with all of you - thank you for the comments; special thanks to those who linked to my blog. I hope you found at least something here worth your time.
I will continue to maintain the links. If you find a dead link, leave me a comment, and I will fix it.

And for now, I will grab my iPod and my kalashnikov and wander off to the desert.

Today this blog had its hundredth posting and also its 4000th visit.
I'd like to celebrate the occasion with a song which is probably the most-played track on my iPod:

Los Tres Diamantes - Perdon (direct link).

Thanks to all the people who come here!
Enjoy the sounds, leave a comment!
Spread the good vibe!

iPod accessories you can't live without (clickable)


More iPod geekery

Links'n'things

The Professional Suicide of a Recording Musician, an excellent article on the media corporations and copyright issues.



Rock out, Mao! Some Chinese AGITPROP vinyl


Little Red Soldiers Follow Close Behind Chairman Mao

Update: and this is how it sounds