LISTEN UP: NEW RELEASES OF VARYING DEGREES OF BRILLIANCE (3.14.2022)

 WHAT HOLDS THE FLAMES TOGETHER:  MATTS ARNBERG'S RECORDINGS OF INSTRUMENTAL SWEDISH VILLAGE MUSIC 1948-51





Hear the music that transformed urban Swedish listeners’ musical consciousness of folk music from the sense of it either having died out or else surviving only as monotonous squawking in need of the improvement of polished, conservatory-trained practitioners to an immediately gratifying and pleasurable experience in which the nation could take significant pride and, ultimately, a source of inspiration for generations ready to take part in their own musical culture.   Sixty cuts in all!


VARIOUS - STARING INTO THE SUN:  ETHIOPIAN TRIBAL MUSIC






A contemporary survey of the tribal music of Ethiopia. Recorded in 2009 by Olivia Wyatt, this double LP showcases an array of mind-blowing sounds from the "land of eternal sunshine". Presented in this visually stunning gatefold are audio examples ranging from remote tribes - of the Ethiopian highlands, the lower Omo and the Great Rift Valley – to their electric analogues in the sweaty beerhalls of Addis Ababa. 

This collection features songs from the Azmari, poet-musicians who play the krar (ancient lyre) and whose song repertoire includes everything from comic improvisation to lyrical elegiac, the Borana whose work songs are a transcendental polyphonic singing that stops time, and the Dirashe whose syncopated panpipes are as otherworldly as anything ever heard. Other selections include music from the Mursi, Druze, Gedeo, Konso, and Tsemay tribes as well as some fine examples of amplified roots music from the capital from the Habesha 2000 Band.



WGANDA KENYA - S/T







Wganda Kenya was a group formed by Discos Fuentes under the idea of developing an African and Caribbean sound in order to appeal to the Costeño Colombian market and also inject a little international exoticism into the label.  This 1976 album has become a collector’s favorite waiting to be reissued, and it’s not hard to understand why since it’s full of so many Afro-Funk, Congolese rumba and Caribbean-flavored dance floor burners.  Special edition reissue containing two non-album bonus tracks from the same period that appeared on 45s and various artist compilations, as well as an insert with liner notes. Pressed on 180g vinyl.  First time reissue. 



BOOTLICKER - BOOTLICKER






It's 2021 - OK so we're a little late with this - and Vancouver’s Bootlicker are back with their first full length.  Experimenting with various lineups and sounds since 2017, these fourteen original tracks flesh out their most realized expression.  Following four EP’s and two demos, Bootlicker's self-titled debut stays true to the noise cultivated in their previous offerings.  That raw, blown-out production countered with clean guitar sound and internationally-informed take on a UK82 delivery remains.  Everything that made the band what they were on their previous output has been reduced to bare essentials.  The mid-tempo, menacing posture of tracks like "Herd The Sheep" and "State Of Fever," give way to the D-beat totality of "Master" or "Two Faced" proving there are still ideas left in the tank.   Maybe not, but what's here is choice and each cut clocks in at less than two minutes leaving you no excuse NOT to pay extreme attention.  Oh yes, every copy of this LP comes with sixteen page zine-style lyric insert full of illustrations by band member and visual artist Athena.



MARK KORVEN - THE LIGHTHOUSE:  THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK






Mark Korven's original soundtrack for The Lighthouse, starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, marks his second collaboration with director Robert Eggers (The Witch).

“Robert [Eggers] and I were rather like the two wickies that went insane in The Lighthouse, musically speaking. We travelled to some very dark harmonic and textural places. We both enjoy not just breaking the rules, but blowing them to smithereens. The spirit of experimentation was always present.” - Mark Korven

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