Mulatu of Ethiopia... and Brooklyn

Ever since the darkly exotic music of Mulatu Astatke was given a starring role in Jim Jarmusch's quirky comedy Broken Flowers, people have been booking flights to Addis Ababa and turning over rocks to uncover more of Mulatu's magical Ethiopian jazz innovations from the 60s and 70s. While a portion of his vintage work has appeared as part of the excellent Ethiopiques series – Vol. 4: Ethio-Jazz and Musique Instrumental 1969 - 1974 (Buda) culls 14 instrumental tracks from two Ethiopian LPs originally issued in 1972 and 1974 – there's still loads of amazing stuff to be rediscovered. His enjoyable Latin-flavoured jams recorded in Brooklyn and issued in small runs on the tiny Addis Ababa and Worthy labels was the source of Mulatu's initial profile boost amongst vinyl hounds, beat diggers and club selectors yet for a long time the only way you could get Mulatu of Ethiopia, Afro-Latin Soul and Afro-Latin Soul Vol. 2 was dropping serious dough.

Clearly, a comprehensive Mulatu Astatke career overview is long overdue. While the Strut label's new Mulatu reissue comp New York - Addis - London: The Story Of Ethio-Jazz 1965-1975 is by no means definitive, the 20-track set is well-intended attempt to at least cover the bases. Compiled by Soundway label boss Miles Cleret (who also supplies the informative notes), the set is could be considered an expanded version of his own label's Multatu Astatke 10" EP from 2005 as those same four tracks Emnete, Ebo Lala, Yefikir Tizita and Asiyo Bellema are used as the jump off point for a sampling of Mulatu's London and New York work before returning to Ethiopia for his classic Amha label joints that have already appeared in the Ethiopiques series.     
It's all solid material and if you liked what you heard in Broken Flowers, there's much more to love here but it would've made for a more worthwhile release had Cleret dug up more of Mulatu's exciting recordings not previously compiled elsewhere. Still New York - Addis - London is the best single disc survey of Mulatu's incredible legacy available, if only by default. Listen here: mulatu-ethiojazz.com

One Mulatu Astatke track that was missed, Alemiye (featuring Belaynesh Wubante and Assegedetch Asfaw), appears on the super dope Psych Funk 101 (World Psychedelic Funk Classics) CD/LP collection which takes a tip from B-Music's Cross Continental Record Raid Road Trip series to seek out fuzzy funked-up obscurities from Turkey, Russia, Iran, South Korea and other far-flung places you wouldn't expect overamped head-nodders to have been cut in the late 60s and early 70s.
Apart from the top-notch track listing – including fab freakouts from the mysterious Staff Carpenborg, Italian exploito-soundtrack ace Armando Sciascia and George Garanian's well-respected Melodiya Jazz Ensemble – the great thing about this diverse set is the packaging which includes a 36-page booklet filled with fantastic full colour sleeve images from the original records which you'll never otherwise encounter in this lifetime. Right on!
If Psych Funk 101 has the look and feel of one of Stones Throw's Now Again comps, it might have something to do with the fact that label honcho Egon assisted with the licensing. It's also available at a reasonable price on the Stones Throw site: stonesthrow.com

Not to be outdone by some achivist upstarts, Egon has assembled a killer psych set of his own called Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974 (Now Again) CD/2LP. It comes packed tight with brilliant brain scramblers from mad, bad and sometimes sad hombres like Baby Grandmothers, Shin Jung Hyun & The Men, Kourosh Yaghmaei, T. Zchiew & The Johnny along with some creeps you may have actually heard about such as Morly Grey, East Of Underground, Shadrack Chameleon and Montreal sluggers Ellison. The accompanying documentation is just as tight and I'm not just saying that because I contributed a few lines to the liner notes. Initial copies ordered from the Stones Throw site come with a limited Guilty Simpson-blessed promo single My Time To Shine. You'll need it.

Here are the tracks:
1. Top Drawer “Song of a Sinner” 8:44
2. Sensational Saints “How Great Thou Art” 3:35
3. East of Underground “Smiling Faces Sometimes” 6:27
4. D.R. Hooker “Forge Your Own Chains” 4:45
5. Shin Jung Hyun and the Men feat. Jang Hyun “Twilight” 5:40
6. T. Zchiew and The Johnny “Let Yourself Be Free” 3:46
7. The Strangers “Two To Make A Pair” 2:52
8. Damon “Don't You Feel Me” 2:36
9. Ellison “Strawberry Rain” 5:33
10. Morly Grey “Who Can I Say You Are” 3:45
11. Shadrack Chameleon “Don't Let It Get You Down” 4:44
12. Ofege “It's Not Easy” 4:25
13. Ana Y Jaime “Nina Nana” 3:18
14. Kourosh Yaghmaei “Hajm-e Khaali” 2:42
15. Baby Grandmothers “Somebody's Calling My Name” 9:13