LISTEN UP: NEW RELEASES OF VARYING DEGREES OF BRILLIANCE (3.6.2022)

 VARIOUS - ISHQ KE MAARE:  SUFI SONGS FROM SINDH AND PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

 

A searing assemblage of Islamic Sufi spiritual music from the hinterlands of Sindh and Punjab - the singers themselves are ‘ishq ke maare’ — in the throes of love - this compilation marks Sublime Frequencies’ debut release of field recordings from Pakistan. Recorded and compiled by Arshia Fatima Haq, this is a rare, unfiltered collection of devotional music ranging from hypnotic solo instrumentals and vocal lamentations to euphoric ensemble qawwalis. Presenting voices that are imperiled in the country’s contemporary political landscape — where renowned singers are assassinated in broad daylight and performance spaces are regularly bombed — this record continues Haq’s ongoing project of engaging complex and controversial Islamic practices and rituals that operate in resistance to religious orthodoxy. 

THE VAMPIRES OF DARTMOOR - DRACULA'S MUSIC CABINET

To take a cinematic cue the record in question is the eurotrash pop equivalent of Jean Renoir’s tragic/triumphant Boudu character who as a homeless, confused and desolate down-and- out plunged to the depths to be unwillingly rescued, resuscitated then after gradually winning the hearts of an entire family becomes respected and revered as royalty. Over twenty years after the mad scientists, Dr. Horst and Ackermann, first breathed life into this short-lived beast, brave and intrepid vinyl explorers have sporadically returned to the doors of Dracula’s Music Cabinet to resurrect the sonic spooks and mutated melodies to share with nerds, mods, rockers, hip hoppers, psych nuts and Krautsiders alike. The lifeless corpses of The Vampires Of Dartmoore that lay six feet beneath the belly of the Eins Deutschmark bins has since crept through the record collections of the aforementioned social circles devouring continental currencies and demanding random ransoms of €250 plus, not to mention sweat, tears (of laughter) and a lot of blood. 

LOS CALVOS - . . . Y QUE CALVOS!

If the first album from Venezuela’s Los Calvos, despite its greatness, could be considered to have a varied sound, then this second, and lamentably final, album found them creating a signature sound with the musicians given free rein and a stronger push to the dance floor, this is música bailable personified.   ...Y Que Calvos! is not for the idle, it’s an album which does not allow you to sit down. Powerful, inventive and abundant of rhythm, it’s everything you could want from a salsa album, and a fitting way for Los Calvos to sign off their far-too- short career. Perhaps now it will finally get its dues as a lost salsa classic. 

DANIELE BALDELLI - BACK TO MY FUNKY SIDE:  THE REMIXES

Back in the early to mid-‘80s while dancers in Manhattan were under the spell of Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, their Italian counterparts on the Adriatic Coast were having their minds blown by Daniele Baldelli, the genre-leaping, technically radical DJ who created the Cosmic Sound.

Baldelli pioneered his sound in a DJ booth designed to look like a space helmet (later, it became the cockpit of a spaceship) at Cosmic by Lake Garda. Reveling in experimentation, he successfully blended songs that, on paper, didn’t seem to fit together, and freaked out his crowd by playing records at the wrong speed and adding weird effects.

This is his latest but to read and hear more, go to:  https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/daniele-baldellis-cosmic-disco-list

SUN RA - SUN RA ARKETSRA MEETS SALAH RAGEB IN EGYPT

Strut present the final instalment in their series of reissues of Sun Ra’s historic recordings in Egypt with The Sun Ra Arkestra meets Salah Ragab in Egypt plus the Cairo Jazz Band, originally released on Greek label Praxis in 1983. 

Salah Ragab first encountered the Arkestra at a concert at the house of Goethe Institut ex-pat Hartmut Geerken during the Arkestra’s first visit to Cairo and Heliopolis in December 1971 and, although Ra and Ragab did not meet in person on that occasion, they did meet and bond together when Ra returned to Egypt in 1983, resulting in these recordings. The Arkestra had been touring Europe in March 1983 and made their way to Cairo, playing a number of concerts during April at the Il Capo / Il Buco venue before recording the two superb studio versions of Ragab compositions, ‘Egypt Strut’ and ‘Dawn’, at El Nahar Studios in Heliopolis in May, featuring Salah Ragab on congas. 

Kostas Yiannoulopoulos, organiser of the Praxis festival in Greece, released the recordings as the A-side of this album, with three tracks by Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Orchestra on Side B. ‘Ramadan’ and ‘Oriental Mood’ were first heard on the Cairo Jazz Orchestra album Egypt Strut released in 1973 while ‘A Farewell Theme’, received its very first release on this record, written following the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970; the piece was played at the much-loved President’s funeral.