Winter Solstice Mix

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day (and longest night) of the yearly cycle.  From here, it can only get brighter, at least for another 6 months. Optimism for the future, looking back at the past, and awareness of the present...

In honor of this particular day (12-21, gotta love the symmetry there as well), I've put together a very random grab-bag of goodies to share, celebrating the past, present, and future in various degrees.

Included are the following:

-One 45rpm single from 1956 that was likely the first record to "sample" other records (and thereby the birth of Hip-Hop culture, at least on a theoretical level if not on one of musical nature and direct influence).

-The Future of Hip-Hop (Don't Don't you you want want to to come come to to the the Echo Echo Party Party?)

-Also in the model of futurism, two of my favorite tracks from the "5 Years of Hyperdub" 2-CD set. UK club dub in effect!

-Another modern electronic piece with a distinctly African flavor from Mapstation's new album "The Africa Chamber"

-A couple of interesting percussive pieces from two different ensembles of European hippies from the 1970's... Popol Vuh and Relaxace.

-Readings of a few works from Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, who was a favorite of none other than Tropicalia legend Caetano Veloso.

-A classic tune about mining entitled "Dark as a Dungeon" from the Maddox Brothers and Rose, featuring the lovely voice of a young Rose Maddox. This one's from 1949 and it's super deep, especially the excellent harmonies that serve as a wonderful example of just how beautifully family-oriented groups like this one are capable of singing together. They don't make them like this anymore...

Feel free to listen to them in whatever order you'd like. Enjoy!

Winter Solstice Mix

Gal Costa - Cantar (1974)

Beautiful album from Gal Costa, who's got one of the loveliest voices in Brazilian music, if not the whole world. The mood is mostly mellow and subdued compared to a lot of her other early records, with a couple of more rocking and/or somewhat funky jams. The arrangements are tasteful and never veer into cheesy territory like some of her later work does, plus she does versions of two tunes written by Caetano Veloso, which he recorded on his incredible Joia (Lua Lua Lua Lua and the title track from that record, Joia).

It's a shame that this disc seems to be out of print (at least outside Brazil), and it's gotten a few spins here at home lately so I thought I'd pass it along to anyone looking for a little Brazilian flavor.

Gal

Tom Waits - Rendezvous at Midnight (Live recordings from 1978 and 1979)

Just noticed that today is the birthday of an old favorite of mine (Tom Waits) and wanted to share this rare collection of live recordings from the late 70's. Some great stuff here, including some unusual versions of tracks from a few of his early records. Some tracks are just him and a piano or acoustic guitar, a few of them have bass, drums, sax or trumpet. He's in spectacular form though it all, working his classic beat-poet/barfly speaking/crooning mode...

I especially like the version of "Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night" with a lengthy monologue at the beginning. Some elements of the spoken bits contained on these numbers were used on various albums (particularly "Nighthawks at the Diner"), while others seem to be unique to this disc and were possibly improvised at the performances captured here.

Overall, it's a collection that fans should appreciate, despite the less-than-perfect fidelity (some numbers are better than others, and in general it isn't bad at all, if you ask me).

Track listing:

1. Eggs And Sausage ~ Semi Suite
2. Diamonds On My Windshield   
3. Drunk On The Moon
4. Better Off Without A Wife
5. Nighthawk Postcards ~ Looking For The Heart Saturday Night
6. San Diego Serenade
7. Summertime   
8. Annie’s Back In Town
9. On The Nickel
10. Romeo's Bleeding   
11. Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis


Waiting for a midnight rendezvous?

Erdem Helvacioglu - Altered Realities (2006)

This is another recent favorite, especially in the late night hours when I want something mellow but not necessarily sleep-inducing. This album is a wonderful mellow soundscape that transforms the guitar into something that sounds much more like a synthesizer. Turkish musician Erdem Helvacioglu apparently recorded the whole album live using only a guitar and various effects, with all of the sound processing done on the fly in real time... Wow! Seriously, his setup must be incredible, since it sounds so much more produced and fleshed out than one would imagine someone being able to do without the aid of some post-production.

But the real beauty of it is in the unique sounds he shapes with such simple means, the mood the record captures, and the vibe it creates. Magical, hazy and blissfully spacy...

alter your reality

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar - Rudra Veena Recital

Classic 1974 LP from Ustad Z.M. Dagar, one of my favorite Indian musicians of all time. His style is unique in that he often sticks to the Alap movement, which is slow, and generally lacks a beat. This tends to make for a relaxing and meditative listen. On this release, he is actually accompanied by a drummer (fairly rare for him, as he often chose to play sans percussion), and the drummer (Swami Pagal Das) is even given a solid nine minutes (the final track of these three) as a showcase for his prodigious skills. Also of note because it's not the usual tabla that he's playing here, but the mrindang (the North Indian word for mrindangam, I believe).

I borrowed this record from my local library, so it's not in perfect shape and there is definitely some surface noise, but hopefully that will just add to your listening enjoyment of this fine record. Those looking for more Z.M. Dagar (along with recordings from various other members of the Dagar family) should head to the Root Strata Blog here.

Get your Raga on!

Donald Byrd - Kofi (1969-1970) + Bonus Beats!

Although the music on this album was recorded in 1969 and 1970 (the same period, and with mostly the same personnel as the masterpiece Electric Byrd), it wasn't actually released until more than twenty-five years later. It's pretty great, even if it's not as psychedelic as Electric Byrd was (no spaced out dub effects here, unfortunately, though who knows if they might have been there if they had chosen to release these tracks at the time!).

After languishing in the Blue Note vaults for that extended period of time, the record finally received a proper release in the mid-90's as part of their "Rare Groove" series, only to go out of print after a handful of years. Excellent playing from everyone involved and some truly classic grooves make this a wonderful listening experience. Enjoy...

Kofi, not Lo-Fi

But wait, there's more! As a special bonus offer, we'll throw in this limited edition Donald Byrd lockgroove from his (also out of print?) album Fancy Free. This fantastic snippet of sound was found on a weathered LP copy of this 1969 Blue Note classic and recorded direct to disc. This loop is brought to you in high fidelity stereophonic sound courtesy of our staff here at An Eternal Rhythm and your satisfaction is guaranteed. Take advantage of this free gift and enjoy the soothing sound of this unique listening experience!

Fancy that, a Free Bonus!

Valet - False Face Society (2009)

Newest release from Valet (aka Portland, Oregon resident Honey Owens). It's an EP of 3 long-ish pieces, and definitely a little less focused / more exploratory than her previous record, the excellent Naked Acid. If you like this one, you should definitely search out her other solo releases, as well as the work she has done with Nudge. Super limited to just 500 LP copies, but I think it deserves to reach more folks out there... hope you enjoy!

False Face Society's Child

Richard Pinhas - Chronolyse (1978)

Here's something from Richard Pinhas, an experimental musician from France who has recorded under his own name and also been involved in many collaborative projects over the last 30+ years, including Heldon, Lard Free, Schizo, and several others. His duo effort with Merzbow last year yielded the excellent Keio Line.

Recorded in 1978, Chronolyse features some nice guitar and synthesizer workouts which show the influence of minimalist composers such as Phillip Glass and Terry Riley, but end up a little closer to progressive rock in both atmosphere and attitude. The final track, a 30 minute sprawling epic with Didier Batard on bass and Francois Auger on drums, is my personal favorite.

Chronolgy You Knit / Craw Gnaw Low G Unit

Orquesta Aragon - La Insuperable (1960)

A truly timeless classic from 1960, with lush string arrangements and beautiful group harmony singing. Orquesta Aragon are one of the longest running and most successful groups from Cuba. I could go into detail but Wikipedia does a much better job, so instead, here's the jams!

el suave sabor...

Franco Battiato - "Clic" (1974)

"Clic" is my favorite album by Spanish Progressive Rock legend Franco Battiato. Recorded in 1974, it carries the subtitle "Dedicato A Karlheinz Stockhausen." There is some really amazing use of found and sampled sounds here, including a great deal of musique concrète-style mixing. On "Ethika Fon Ethica," he uses a snippet of one of my all-time favorite pieces of music, Hiran'ny Tanoran'ny Ntao Lo's "Oay Lahy E" (originally recorded in Madagascar in the early 1930's, issued by both Yazoo and Fremeaux on collections of Malagassy music and also recently included on Mississippi Records' fabulous LP collection entitled Mata La Pena.

A version of the album was released on CD in 1998, and it features a different tracklisting than the original LP. Not sure if the original four tracks were broken up into the seven cuts contained here, or if the music itself was somehow different on that release, so if anyone can shed some light on this mystery (or has the original LP version to share), please feel free to post in the comments section. Thanks!

"Clic" here for linkk

Galactic Explorers - Epitaph For Venus

Classic 1972 Krautrock ambient/synthesizer album with some similarities to Tangerine Dream's early 1970's work (particularly the spacier textures of Zeit, Atem, and Alpha Centauri). Apparently one member of this trio was also in Dzyan, another great band from around the same time who made a few excellent progressive rock albums.

explore a galaxy of sound

Emeralds S/T LP on Wagon / Gneiss Things

This LP has been a recent favorite, spending lots of time on my turntable over the last few months. Ohio space drone psychedelia, anyone?

green stones...