Phish

Phish - Coral Sky 11/2/96 "Stash" from Phish on Vimeo.

KCRW Sounds Eclectico

KCRW - Sounds Eclectico

From now on, Im gonna try to keep a certain eclecticism on here. I don't want to share only a few specific genres which is the reason why I also might upload some compilations. Here is the first one.

If I remember, I think I actually got a five finger discount on this album a few years back just picking it for its cover [which I do a lot and which is not a bad thing, you would be amazed to find the most random and amazing stuff like this].
Anyway, cool album which is basically some latin tunes compiled by the Los Angeles-based station KCRW. However the whole album is really eclectic, going from electronic to acoustic.

If anything, this collection shows how rooted this music is in it’s acoustic, unplugged traditions, and how revolutionary it can be in its electronic expansions to other musical forms. --Eugene Holley, Jr.
The opening track is pretty damn good. Definitely recommended.

The Willowz

Music video by the inventive genius Michel Gondry.

Black Diamond

A documentary about to come out that depicts the human traffic that exists in Africa within the business of the football world.
One of my parents' friend worked on this documentary, which is the reason why i heard about it. It looks promising.

Socalled

Socalled - Ghetto-Blaster [Hip-Hop, Klezmer]

A few days ago was Rosh Hashanah, the new year in the Jewish calendar.

Shana Tova everyone :)
Anyway, that reminded me of an interesting jewish artist: Socalled. This is his last solo album to date. He also belongs to the band Abraham Inc. from which I uploaded an album a few days ago. More hip-hop oriented, this solo effort blends elements from Klezmer music [musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe] as well as funk and jazz. Socalled talks about the jewish culture from which he belongs and sing in many languages including Hebrew.

On "{Rock The} Belz", Socalled talks about his relation with the Jewish culture:

“I sing Jewish songs not because they are better than the songs of my neighbor but because they are mine. And unless I sing them, that part of the culture will vanish and that meadow of proliferating flowers, with a profusion of flowers, will have the Jewish flower missing. That’s why I sing Jewish songs.”

Really cool album.

Pretty fun clip video



Also while I was looking for some video to put on here, I found out about this documentary about him and his music that should be out this year. Here is the preview it looks just great!

Tarnation

Mind Blowing!

Manuel Göttsching

Manuel Göttsching " E2 E4" [Kosmische Musik, 1984]

This following introduction to this album is really interesting and sets all the prerequisites that you need to meet before you listen to this album. It end up being an exceptional experience. I also wanted to share this album for David, a long time friend, whose blog [clubmoustache] got me more interested in electronic music and especially its birth (to which this album greatly contributed).

" This is the kind of record that very few people know about, but it’s understatement to say that theyshould know about it. If you haven’t heard that record, I seriously doubt you should consider yourself a fan of electronic music, yet. Compared to its German luminaries such as Kraftwerk or Can, it’s just as historically important. Then we could say it’s quite underrated indeed. First, let’s mention that Manuel Göttsching was part of Ashra Tempel with Klaus Schulze, and they even made an album with the late Timothy Leary. He is one of the most important guitarists of the Kosmische Musik genre. He also participated in the Cosmic Jokers sessions. His style and technique influenced dozens of artists in the post-Eno ambient and new age scenes in the 1980s and 1990s. But let’s face it, even though that record is a classic and has influenced everyone in the Detroit techno area from Carl Craig to Derrick May, rarely will you sit still 58 minutes to listen to an entire record which consists of just one track. It takes time, in fact, it is time consuming. It also takes patience. If you don’t like stuff like Brian Eno or Tangerine dream, Steve Reich and minimalist music then this record is not made for you. But then again, you would miss on something which is quite a masterpiece. The first time, I heard it was in 1998 I think, close to 15 years after its release. Now on to 25 years after its original production, it has aged especially well. Sure, back then it was picked by one of the best DJ’s of all time in Larry Levan who used to mix it next to the Clash. But think about it : this record has been covered in 1989 by the Italian techno-house outfit Sueno Latino, it was covered by Basic channel,on their Basic reshape, and remixed by Paperclip people aka Carl Craig on his Remake uno EP. Most recently it was picked by LCD Soundsystem‘ on 45:33 a record that was inspired by E2 E4 both conceptually as seen on the artwork and musically with the duration of the song. Just another example of how many times it’s been named-checked, reworked and expanded countless times.

E2-E4, was released in 1984, and was the first solo recording album by Manuel Göttsching. The album itself consists of a minimalistic hour-long progressive electronic track that is subdivided into single tracks according to the stage of the song. The second half of the record is notable for Göttsching’s guitar playing. The album is named after the most popular opening chess move, 1. e4. Maybe its legendary status is due to the fact that as the story is sometimes told, Göttsching stopped in the studio, while touring with Klaus Schulze, and invented techno. In a concert mood, in december (that would put this record 30 years old ) of 1981, he entered his studio armed with only a korg synth and a guitar, his favorite asset. And then, he started playing. He improvised. But thanks for us, he decided to record the whole thing on the spur of the moment. And an hour of music was born. But he did not even intend to release it. After much reflections, doubts and afterthoughts, and only after the counsel of usual pal Schulze and especially three years later, he decides to publish the session. E2 E4, covered with a chessboard on cold and brown, sees the light and its light changes the course of history. E2 E4 is the most compelling argument that techno came from Germany. And even more so than any Kraftwerk album, anyway. Over a heavenly two-chord synth vamp and simple sequenced drum and bass, Göttsching’s played his guitar like a percussion instrument, creating music that defines the word hypnotic over the sixty minutes of the single track.

How do we explain musical genius ? We can’t. When it happens, it just happens. And nothing happens at random, this for both normal and special things. But only the special things happen by pure magic, or some strange astral combination, the dance in zero gravity between relevant things and transcendent randomness, that leads to improvisation. The ability to take a theme and stretch it out into an ever increasing artform is often unattainable. The ex-leader of Ashra, the kraut-deutsch guru Manuel Göttsching, did it a quarter century ago, and his ability came from live shows. But what’s E2 E4 ? For a human, the easiest opening move in chess. For a musician, the dream of life. A persistent pulse of dreamy synthethic geometries which proceeds to the nirvana escorted by a spastic beat and a guitar that never ceases to peak. A perfect loop, the loop by definition. Nevertheless it’s not a dance piece. But it’s impossible to speak of E2 E4 in terms of human technology, if you’ve got that melody in your head, it will never leave you. I will never grow tired of that record. Jeff Mills once said : some things are better left unexplained. I do agree with him. That is the case with E2 E4. " funkyjeff77, from http://funkyjeff77.wordpress.com/

I cut the song in multiple parts, corresponding to the different variations, and left the song itself (59 minutes),at the end. Enjoy!

Erik Truffaz

Erik Truffaz "Paris" [Jazz/Soul, France, 2008]

Really good album, great alchemy between Truffaz's trumpet and Sly Johnson's soulful voice.

Erik Truffaz & Sly Johnson Vidéo evene sélectionnée dans Musique

Abraham Inc.

Abraham Inc "Tweet Tweet" [Klezmer, Jazz, Rock , Funk]

So effing groovy!

Baden Powell

Baden Powell - Le Monde Musical de Baden Powell [1964, Brazillian music]

An artist that I love. Sweet and slow music.