Mississippi Records

Mississippi Records is a store on said street in Portland. Very cool shop, but the coolest part about the owners is the label they run. Reissuing compilations of rare music and unheralded albums, the label was really taken off in the last years putting out super limited runs that get sold out almost immediately. Over at hipinion, I've (with the help of a few) uploaded most of their catalogue, and while I feel bad for bootlegging a cool label, oh well. Here's a few of their records.


Last Kind Words (1926-1953)
Great compilation of old blues from some familiar names, but mostly those unfamiliar.
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Lipa Kodi Ya City Council
Possibly my favorite compilation on the label (though actually probably not), this is a great collection of African highlife music mostly. Great for a sunny day.
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George Coleman - Bongo Joe
Some records you can't attach a label to. This is one of those records. Originally released in '69 (best year in music if you didn't know), this album is some sort of demented blues records played almost solely on steel drums. Screams, shouts, croaks, whistles, whatever. Blow your mind.
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Koby Israelite - Orobas: Book Of Angels Vol. 4 (2006)

This album is fucking bizarre dudes. Another set of Zorn tunes, but this one is definitely one of the most far out from the Book of Angels series. The album is all over the place. One song will be Jewish/Turkish electronic fusion stuff like Balkan Beat Box, the next will be traditional, the next will sound like heavy metal, the next traditional, the next jazzy, the next fusion etc. It's a fucking blast and definitely NOT background music. Not for everyone, but if you are a fan of bands like Secret Chiefs 3 or whatever, this album is pretty good. Find joy in the schizophrenia.

Koby Israelite has issued two previous CDs for the Tzadik label, Dance of the Idiots and Mood Swings. Both showed a tremendous flair for composition, instrumental acumen, humor, and an ability to shift genres without batting an eye. Israelite was born in Tel Aviv, and has played everything from traditional Hebrew folk music, classical music (he was trained on piano at a conservatory from the age of nine), and he's a huge fan of heavy metal and has played in a number of metal and punk bands. This set of John Zorn tunes -- from Zorn's second Masada book -- Orobas: Book of Angels, Vol. 4 was handpicked by the composer. The results are stellar. There's the Yiddish gypsy blues that meld with funk and jazz on "Czgadi," where accordions engage in contrapuntal free form with a fretless bass before guitars and trap kits move to the center of the mix. The startling metal guitar riffing that introduces "Zafiel" is splayed out by Turkish folk melodies by mid-track. Then there are the mariachi-styled melody lines played by trumpets, electric guitars, Farfisa organs, and a drum kit on "Khabiel"; the mood changes, the genres smash and meld effortlessly (klezmer melodies and reggae enter and leave seamlessly and the track is taken out by a kind of prog-surf metal before it ends), and the music becomes hypnotic while remaining exciting, even breathtaking. The other musicians who lay here -- trumpeter Sid Gauld, Stewart Curtis on recorders, piccolos and clarinet, and Yaron Stavi on bass, (Israelite plays no less than eight instruments himself) -- are in top-flight, and this feels more like a band than an individually directed effort. And perhaps that too is a strength Israelite possesses, to place his imprint on Zorn's music in an idiosyncratic way, and still give his ensemble an individual identity. As for the series, Orobas: Book of Angels, Vol. 4 is another essential Four-for-four and counting. This is the most exhilarating set of recordings Tzadik has offered in quite some time. For those who haven't yet checkout Israelite, this is a fantastic opportunity.
-Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

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Basil Poledouris - Conan The Barbarian Soundtrack (1982)

Yeah, yeah, ridiculous I know. But the soundtrack the legendarily awful (and one of my favorite!) films, is a good one. I mean this movie was hyped up to be a revolutionary fantasy epic, and the music matches that. Basil Poledouris is the writer and conductor of the music which is just epic in scope and a joy to listen to. Listen, get pumped for the battles and go and bash some heads.

The musical score to "Conan the Barbarian" is truly one of the great achievements in fantasy/adventure film music. Basil Poledouris, who composed and conducted the music, brings a tremendous amount of passion and skill to his task. Equally passionate are the performances by the Orchestra and Chorus of Santa Cecilia and the Radio Symphony of Rome. This is big, bold, richly colored music with a lusty, savage vibe.

The film follows the adventures of Conan, a well-muscled warrior played by Arnold Schwarzeneggar, as he battles his way through a mythic fantasy landscape. Poledouris brilliantly combines choral voices with a full orchestra to evoke Conan's world, with all of its beauty and danger. Particularly good is the percussion that spices many of the best tracks.

As you might expect, there is a lot of chest-pounding, martial-sounding music on this CD. But there are also passages of sweetness and delicacy. Every track is excellent, but my particular favorites include the relentlessly pounding "Anvil of Crom"; the tender, yet joyful "Theology/Civilization"; and the sensuous second part of "The Kitchen/The Orgy." "Conan the Barbarian" is a classic of the art of film scoring.

-Michael Mazza, Amazon.com

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A To Z: Z - Zarthus by Robbie Basho

Ah! The end of the A to Z series! Well it has been a fun way to showcase some excellent albums here, hope those of you who come here (and never comment) enjoyed it. I haven't decided if I should start up a new series theme or just start posting whatever. Something will happen though.

So I probably have somewhere around like 14 Robbie Basho records. If you don't know Robbie Basho...think John Fahey but even more psychedelic. If you don't know John Fahey, well, what gives? It's finger-picked acoustic guitar most of the time. Sort of "western" ragas, but Basho's music is very much influenced by Persia and the east and almost always has been. Basho also has a tendency to throw in drums and piano and even sing on a lot of his records, which all come around on this album from 1974. Many Basho fans regard Zarthus as is his best album, I don't know if I do. It's great, it's crazy, and it features one epic track in the 20-minute "Rhapsody in Druz" but I don't always like when he sings. His voice is real deep and not bad, but his guitar work is so amazing, I would usually just rather he does that. It's a good to great psychedelic record regardless though, so you should probably get it.

Robbie Basho's Zarthus, dating from 1974, is, in his own words, "An album of Persian, Arabic, Westerns Themes (sic), woven together into a single 'Fabric D'Amour' to cover the barren manekin (sic) of modern times." Easily the album that most indulges his obsessions with Eastern modal scales and odd meters, and even Western classical themes. All of it is grounded in Basho's guitar though, and the discs first two tracks, "Zarthus" (dedicated to Meher Baba, Pete Townshend's guru) and "Khoda é Gul é Abe," are driving 12-string numbers, possessed as much by the rhythm of the mridingham as they are by Basho's trademark open tonal wandering up and down the fret board. There is some single string playing in "Zarthus," but both tunes are overdriven from the fluid, liquidy percussive strum and drag of his lightning quick right hand. On "Mehera" and "Khalil Gibran," Basho employs the use of a piano as well as his guitars and his voice. For those who were put off by the singing on Voice of the Eagle, this is easier to handle, melodic and true if oddly constructed. All of it is based on drones and the cascading up and down is limited in range. The poetry in his lyrics is spiritually beautiful. The album's capper is the 19-plus minute "Rhapsody in Druz." The first half is a beautiful love song to a spiritual master, and the last half is an exercise in droning strings, both on the piano and the guitars, rumbling microtonally against one another in tandem and causing overtonal vibrations between them. While this is not Basho's finest recorded moment, it is certainly a very good one, and all fans of the development of his music should take notes of its compositions as well as of his truly innovative piano playing.

-AMG

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i caved and made a muxtape

heylook.muxtape.com

enjoy listening to some opera/folk/indian bullshit

A To Z: M - Man In Space With Sounds by Attilio "Art" Mineo

Composed in 1951, recorded in 1959 and released in 1962 for the Seattle-based World's Fair, Man In Space With Sounds is about as kitschy a record as one can find. A true product of it's time, Mineo here composes early electronic gems that bring to mind the romantic "Lost In Space" and "Space Mountain" era space music. It's a lot of fun, but unless you are putting on some sort of space themed event or party, the music doesn't have a ton of replay value. (Or maybe you're into old sci-fi comics or something). This is the Subliminal Sounds re-release so the first 12 tracks are the songs with spoken word introductions and the second 12 are the same songs without the vocals.

"Attilio Mineo is one of those obscure artists who created music so far ahead of its time that we are still trying to catch up to it today. What we have today, in 1999, is music that is reminiscent of science fiction soundtracks from "Forbidden Planet" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to "Terminator 2" and "The Fifth Element." But the music also resembles some of the earliest tape-loop experiments by people like Stockhausen, where traditional musical elements were combined with samples and sound effects. Mineo manages to blends orchestral scores with sound effects so that there is almost no distinction between them. The strings and horns are as "alien" as the alarm sounds and the theromyne wails. What really makes this music contemporary with 1999, however, is the thing that probably killed its commercial appeal in the 1960s--the narrator. At the start of each track, a narrator offers a brief comment, designed to guide the visitor through the fair. From a modern perspective, however, the narrator merely adds another weird element to music that is already weirder than most anything I've ever heard. Again, this is a gem: a found piece of electronic art that deserves recognition."

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Man In Space With Sounds

Dutch Band Organ (Vinyl Rip)

Since I had fun (sick, huh?) ripping that Previn recording last night, this morning I decided to do the same with one of the oddest records in my collection. Found this for 50 cents at one of the Portland record shops, and it's something you wouldn't really find anywhere but in a dollar bin. It's put out by HiFirecordings that was some label on Sunset Blvd. in the 50s or 60s. I don't know the exact year this is put out, and I can't really find much information (save for two links that reference the record at the end of this post). But you really have no reason to download this unless you want to listen to carnival music, which, let's face it: would be weird. Scanned and assembled the LP cover in photoshop again as well. It's pretty funny record though, and if you ever find yourself throwing a carnival or something, well then here ya go. The liner notes are the best thing ever, so I will include them again this time:

Dutch Band Organ is different!

All Band Organs are a "gas," quaintly tootling and twittering away, but this Dutch variety is even more so. You have heard Band Organs in carnivals, circuses and fairs. The picture on the front cover will remind you. The straightforward melodies, crazy arrangements and frequent "clams" are nostalgic, taking you back to the fun days of your youth.

In Holland, a Band Organ is a thing of achievement. There are lots of them and the builders take much pride in outdoing each other. The particular instrument recorded here is the Pride Of Amsterdam, the best of them all!

The process of making the music is interesting. After selecting tunes for this album, the list was sent to a roll maker who cuts by hand the appropriate holes in paper rolls which actuate the notes of the instrument as the roll progresses over a tracker, something like an ordinary player piano. The roll cutter in this case, incidentally, is a prominent Amsterdam attorney who cuts rolls as a hobby (try that one!).

After cutting, the rolls were played on the Band Organ in a live room for the best sound. By the way, stereo recording equipment included Neumann microphones and the best of other European recording gear, all of which is PLENTY good.

The very original adaptations and arrangements of the tunes played is remindful of the difference between domestic and imported Dutch beer. Anyway, make yourself comfortable for listening, put this album on your player and you will soon get the idea and want to listen over and over again!

Haha. Awesome.
Here are two links that reference the record in Mechanical Music Digest:
Dutch Band Organ (1995)
Recordings Of Fairground, Band, And Dance Organs (2007)

AND OF COURSE:
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