NEW JAMS 5/01/08

Various / Nigeria Rock Special [Soundway]
Alrighty, 1970s African funkiness overload here we come. By now we hope you've stopped by to pick up a copy of the awesome Nigeria Special 2CD compilation of blistering afro-funk. Then there is the equally cool and hot Nigeria Disco Funk Special. Now we have the Nigeria Rock Special which is more smokin' afro funk goodness with maybe a hair more psychedelic guitars than the other two sets. All in all, 3 different yet similar killer sets of sweaty head bopping booty shaking fat funk pleasures. Ready for more? See the next review it's no slouch either. JT

Various / African Scream Contest [Analog Africa]
...From Benin & Togo '70s. Additionally, the geographical location of Benin and Togo -- sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria -- exposed Beninese and Togolese musicians to Highlife music. The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin's modern music. Benin is the birth place of Vodun (or, as it is known in the West, Voodoo), and some of the rhythms used during traditional rituals -- Sakpata, Sato, Agbadja, Tchenkoumé and many others -- were fused to soul and Latin music as early as the mid-1960s and later to funk. That fusion is the essence of this compilation. In the late '60s and early '70s, rock and soul music started creeping into the region. In particular, the music of James Brown and Johnny Halladay became immensely popular with university students. It was then that the music scene in Benin really started to take off. What made this musical revolution even more interesting is that most of the musicians could not read music. Often the music they made sounded one semi-tone away from being out of tune, but somehow they always managed to bring all the elements together into something new and exciting. So delve into the forgotten raw and psychedelic Afro sounds from '70s Benin and Togo and experience the African Scream Contest. Label Description

La Ira De Dios / Cosmos Kaos Destruction [World In Sound]
Lima, Peru hard rock outfit. Think Motorhead, Comets on Fire or MC5 and you're not far off the mark. Power trio action with all sounds set for stun. Then they move in for the (loud) brains. That's right, they want to eat your brains. Zombie rock! They also do a pretty neat cover of Campo de Vampiros. MaximoVolumenRockNRoll with 8 exclamation points. JT

Robbie Basho / "Bon Ist Supreme" [Bo' Weavil]
The plethora of current young finger pickers rightfully deserving some acclaim these days (you know the names) owe huge piles of indebtedness to Mr. Basho. They'll freely admit it too. This shadowy (compared to Fahey or Kottke) guitarists guitarist was a supreme master of twelve string transcendentalism. This rare live set from Bonn, Germany showcases the trance like qualities he achieved with ten fingers and twelve strings. Treat yourself to trance guitar. JT

Various / Easy Beatles [Bureau B]
Yep. Easy listening lounge takes on some group called the Beatles. Cringing? Don't. It's super groovy and besides when was the last time you heard Ella Fitzgerald singing 'Savoy Truffle'. There are more names that you may know and plenty that you don't... but you know the tunes. How about The Assembled Multitude doing 'I Want You (She's So Heavy) or Wade Marcus doing 'Something'. How about The Lettermen doing 'I'm Only Sleeping'? Did I say groovy? Yes. Yes I did. JT

M83 / Saturdays = Youth [Mute]
For anyone waiting for the next Air release to be released, this should tide you over quite well. M83 have lightened things up a bit. The last few times around things were dense and dramatic to the point of either epiphany or collapse. But now it's all done with a much lighter touch. The sound is 80's, but with a 00's sense of style. The cover has a Molly Ringwald look alike, looking pretty in pink [80's], with the grim reaper on the sidelines; sexy, beautiful, and aware of the camera [00's.] MO

Valet / Naked Acid [Marriage] LP
So I picked this up on Saturday when it was so lovely out and played it on Sunday afternoon over and over durng the warmness of the rain. And oh, it was so right. Housemate cooking in the kitchen said is reminded her of Blond Redhead with a spacier tinge. Which is rather getting there really, the lady has a lovely voice and there are beats and is traditional song structure and all sorts of the whooshy-ish effects you'd expect from an artist formerly on Kranky. Very highly recommended. LM

Pink Reason / Cleaning the Mirror [Siltbreeze] LP
I very much wish I had my copy of Z-Gun with me (an incredibly excellent zine produced by the S-S label gentlemen) because Kevin De Broux who is Pink Reason has one of the best interviews I have ever read ever in there. Three cheers for radical politics and folks doing what they believe in for the best possible reasons. Anyway, the interview coupled with Siltbreeze's reputation prompted me to pick up Cleaning the Mirror unheard. Holy shit. So fucking good. It's very dark and very lo-fi and reminds me most of Bauhaus I think. Crossed with GBV? Garage + Goth + Indie. Hell yeah. Have had this for a month now and it's still on the turntable three or four times weekly. And here's a link to a longer Tiny Mix Tapes review: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Pink-Reason LM

The Dodos / Beware the Maniacs [Self-released]
A two piece of drums and guitar from San Francisco they are. What is funny is that this morning I was listening to Akron/Family and wishing more posi-anthemic-swinging-catchiness would enter my life... and then here it is. Saw the Dodos open for touring partners Akron/Family at the Crocodile and was sizably impressed. They managed to get 150 folks who had never heard them before clapping along and punctuating on the "Hey!" Seriously, if you dig A/F, Vetiver, Grizzly Bear, or Devendra B. please take a minute and check this. The boys will have you dancing a baby round a kitchen, delightedly crowing. No haters! LM

Fuck Buttons / Street Horrrsing [ATP Recordings]
Kinda didn't expect to like this one; any band with fuck in their name. Shit Buttons might be kinda cute. Anyway, it's those Technicolor fuzzed out drones that caught my ears. An ocean of sound with an undertow of emotion. They love to get noisy, and occasionally Cookie Monster guests on vocals. And when rhythms appear they're raucous and tribal. But despite all the noise and damage, this is often quite beautiful. And beauty is the fucking shit. MO

Various / Oh, Run Into Me, But Don't Hurt Me! [Sub Rosa]
Female Blues Singers - Rarities 1923-1930. The Sub Rosa label presents a collection of works from obscure and forgotten female blues singers, exploring the question: what can be said about a singer whose entire work fits on a single-sided 78rpm record? What circumstances led to this recording? Who decided to do it? For whom was it intended? Why wasn't it followed by more recordings? Hypotheses get lost in places and moments themselves forgotten. What remains are these miraculous voices that have survived, through hardship and death -- these voices that have gone through the dark years of The Great Depression, when profoundly sincere and ferociously ironic blues were at their peak. However, this selection does not constitute a theme-based anthology: it is simply a few little-known or forgotten female blues singers whose ambiguous leanings, double-entendres, and uncompromising crudeness had been censored by the propriety of their times ruled by sanctimonious prudishness and despicable segregation. This collection focuses on the darker, coarser and grittier than what was being performed for the popular crowd in vaudevilles and medicine shows. These women were expressing a radically new form, or perhaps an ancient, primitive one that plumbs the depths of a universal heartache. Featuring Lucille Bogan, Virginia Liston, Lil Johnson, Margaret Johnson, Monette Moore, Margaret Carter, Jenny Pope, Lena Henry, Anna Jones, Rosa Henderson, Coletha Simpson, Martha Copeland, Ivy Smith and Memphis Minnie. Label Description

Lou Harrison / Por Gitaro [Mode]
"Even though Lou Harrison rhapsodized about the 'dulcet tones' of the guitar, for much of his career, he refused to write for it. The problem was that the guitar's straight, fixed frets resulted in the tuning system known as equal temperament, while Harrison preferred the crystalline purity of harmony found in the types of tuning known as just intonation. In the 1970s, Harrison learned of a guitar with removable fingerboards, allowing the player to simply swap out fingerboards refretted with different tunings. Energized by this innovation, Harrison completed the first works for just-intoned guitar: the 'Serenade for Guitar and Optional Percussion' in 1978. He began the next work in the series, the 'Ditone Suite,' but grew impatient trying to acquire the necessary fingerboards. Two and a half movements into the suite, he reluctantly turned away from his ambitious guitar project, adapting the 'Ditone Suite' movements for his 'String Quartet Set.' In 1981, the guitarist John Schneider met with Harrison and played his first arrangements of his harp works for just intonation guitar. With Harrison's authorization and encouragement, Schneider began adapting some of Harrison's other works into suites. This is the first complete recording of the reconstructed 'Suites' and of the 'Ditone Set' and the first recording of 'In Honor of the Divine Mr. Handel' in the version for guitar and gamelan. The recordings were made in Harrison's straw bale house in Joshua Tree, California, where the house's main hall was intended for musical performances." Label Description

Reviewers: LM = Lucy Morehouse MO = Michael Ohlenroth JT = Jeffery Taylor