LISTEN UP: NEW RELEASES OF VARYING DEGREES OF BRILLIANCE (4.17.2022)

  LUC FERRARI - COMPLETE MUSIC FOR FILMS 1960-1984

This three CD set gathers the complete work by Luc Ferrari (a French composer of Italian heritage and pioneer in musique concrète and electroacoustic) for films from 1960 to 1984 including electronic pieces, concrete music made in GRM and some hybrid including traditional instruments. 

Very rare pieces, most are unpublished (with collaboration with Jean Cocteau and Jean Tinguely).  And so here we have, a compendium giving the listener the depth and breadth of the work of one of the most innovative composers of the Twentieth Century. 

TAM QUAM TABULA RASA - EGOMACHIA

Tam Quam Tabula Rasa is a legendary post-industrial group from Rapallo, Italy. They play mysterious, monotonic, ritualistic drone and industrial music, that could be truly classified as "archaic drone" or "archaic noise". Tam Quam Tabula Rasa was mainly active in the cassette underground culture of the late 1980s to early '90s.  After a long silence, we have their newest work.  Egomachia was entirely played with non traditional instruments (all of them are unique and handcrafted) and without the use of loops.  Dive in and prepare to be overwhelmed by deep, deep dark experimental sounds by this Italian master of Old School Industrial.

PAKISTAN:  INSTRUMENTAL AND FOLK POP SOUNDS 1966 - 1976

Spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal has compiled a mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period.

Situated between Afghanistan, India and Iran, the collision of cultural influences in Pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet.  By the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing American and British pop covers became popular in Karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties.  Long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across Pakistan.  Soon, hippies from both North America and Europe began flocking to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.  Very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record.  Like their neighbors in India, the Pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar. 

Pakistan’s musical revolution ended in June 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure Islamic state governed by Sharia law.  This marked the end of the “Swinging ‘70s” in Pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country.  Television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship.  After the clamp down, many Pakistani musicians left the country and moved to America, Canada and England. 

BURIAL HEX - GAUZE

Horror electronics and phantasmagoric post-industrial: the brand new ritual offering from Burial Hex.

A prophylactic talisman and ward for the families directly involved with the Burial Hex project, though it can be effective for anyone who needs an extra layer of defense.  The art, lyrics and sound were all layered together with supersensible content generated specifically for this purpose.  Beyond just protection and defense, Gauze is an invitation to transcend sclerotic ways of experiencing incarnation, by freely juxtaposing increasingly divergent forms, and reconciling all with warmth and passion.

With Gauze we hear the mouths of Burial Hex an urgent gainsaying to those who would reduce psychic experience and spiritual feeling to material processes, and in the process penetrating the density of human denial and cracking the electronic shell which crushes much of our humanity. 

COCO LAGOS Y SUS ORATES - DESCARGAS

An outstanding and somewhat obscure release by Peruvian percussionist Coco Lagos formerly released on the New York label Alegre Records in 1967.  It includes a killer version of Cal Tjader's "Mamblues" (included in the animated film Fritz The Cat) and "Brava Pachanga," an original by the Father of Boogaloo, Joe Cuba, among many other stand-out tracks.  Reissue on 180g vinyl after years of languishing out of circulation.  Includes insert with liner notes.

Little known outside of Peru, the great Coco Lagos was a naturally talented multi-percussionist who reigned as king of the Peruvian beat in the late 60s and early 70s.  He kicked off this career at the tender age of thirteen, he played congas for artists passing through Peru, such as Pérez Prado, then worked as a regular session man for the MAG label, the legendary record company centered in Lima, Peru, before being given this opportunity with other in-house alumni.