Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Watch Cotton Mather perform "The Gold Gone Days"

Here's Cotton Mather's Whit Williams and Robert Harrison singing Kontiki bonus track "The Gold Gone Days" followed by Whit reading poetry. 




Dan Penn talks Muscle Shoals & Memphis with WWOZ's Neil Pellegrin

Listen to Dan Penn's chat with Neil Pellegrin right here, note that it begins about 85 minutes into the program. 




Monday, April 29, 2019

Happy Birthday Duke Ellington

Here's a rare Duke Ellington gem with Julian Priester, Malcolm Taylor, Booty Wood & Joe Benjamin from 1970. 


Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage @ Small World Music Centre, Friday

Fast rising UK folk duo Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage make their much-anticipated Toronto return Friday – listen to "Hidden Things" below. 

Here's the scoop...
A chance meeting at their local Black Fen Folk Club in Cambridge UK uncovered Hannah and Ben’s shared musical passions and sympathies, that over time has developed into a unique and intimate show of American roots and English folk music.

Huddled round a single microphone, singing intimate duets with just mountain dulcimer, dobro and guitar Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage are a folk duo that look & sound classically timeless, yet feel refreshingly unique.

Fleetingly, they may evoke a memory of Gram & Emmylou, Shirley & Davey, or Gillian & David but their warm distilling of influences from both sides of the Atlantic produces a refined sound that is decidedly their own.

Their unique unplugged presentation creates a widescreen, cinematic soundscape with open spaces and atmosphere, giving their beautifully pure vocals room to share the songs’ emotion and narrative.

The material is as joyful and fun as it is intense, but the common factor is the duo’s warmth and confidence in each other; their natural ease and connection is clearly evident on the recorded music, and a genuine pleasure to witness on stage. Two voices and one microphone.

Hanah and Ben have produced two sublime albums – 2016's Before The Sun and 2018's Awake – both recorded here in Toronto with the legendary David Travers-Smith. Tickets for their show at Small World Music Centre (180 Shaw) on Friday (May 3) from 8pm to 11pm are $25 advance available here and $35 at the door.

Watch the new Rob Bridge video for their latest single, "Hidden Things," inspired by Francesco Dimitri’s novel “Book of Hidden Things” set in Southern Italy.



In the studio with Karl Hector & The Malcouns

"Asteroid" is off Karl Hector & The Malcouns' new Krautrock-inspired album Non Ex Orbis available here

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Happy Birthday Blossom Dearie!

Remembering singer/pianist Blossom Dearie on her day with "Our Day Will Come" and her swingin' "I Like London in the Rain"



Saturday, April 27, 2019

Before They Were Famous: Pierangelo Maset and Michael Hirsch of ExKurs

A few years before forming German NDW band ExKurs, Pierangelo Maset and Michael Hirsch were playing punk rock as The Wankers. 



Various Artists – Kreaturen der Nacht
1. "Leben Und Arbeiten - Amanita" 00:00
2. "Malaria! - Your Turn To Run (I Will Be Your Only One)" 04:19
3. "Ausserhalb - Zeitzelle" 08:27
4. "Die Haut - Der Karibische Western" 12:02
5. "Aus Lauter Liebe - Pingelig" 17:32
6. "Mania D. - Track 4" 20:32
7. "ExKurs - Fakten Sind Terror" 24:02
8. "Christiane F. - Wunderbar (JD Twitch Edit)" 27:55
9. "Sprung Aus Den Wolken - Dub And Die" 24:07
10. "P1/E - Up And Above / Up And Above Dub" 28:19
11. "Franz Erlmeier & Fritz Köstler - Öffnen Sie Mal Ihre Tasche" 35:02
12. "Populäre Mechanik - Scharfer Schnitt (No. 1)" 37:33
13. "Andreas Dorau & Die Marinas - Fred Vom Jupiter" 40:06
14. "Weltklang - Veb Heimat" 42:46
15. "Stefan Blöser - Voyager One" 45:09
16. "Matthias Schuster - An Rah Robeel" 51:00


Simon Bonney collection Past, Present, Future due May 3rd

Past, Present, Future collects music from Simon's Forever and Everyman albums with 6 unissued tracks including a lovely Scott Walker tribute. 

Simon Bonney has just released his compilation album Past, Present, Future (Mute) which brings together songs from his last two albums, Forever (1992) and Everyman (1994), as well as six new tracks for an unreleased album titled Eyes of Blue. Check out Simon's version of "Duchess" by the late great Scott Walker below.

Reflecting on the message found in “Don’t Walk Away From Love,” Bonney says, “In a relationship you can focus on the positive or you can focus on the negative. The one you feed the most will define that relationship. ‘Don’t Walk Away From Love’ is about embracing the positive.”

Beginning Sunday in Nashville, Bonney will embark on a tour of the Eastern United States alongside Mark Lanegan. See below for a full itinerary.

Past, Present, Future is the beautiful amalgamation of songs taken from two of Bonney’s previously released albums: 1992’s Forever, a deeply personal and intimate record, and 1994’s Everyman, his socio-political opus that has grown in relevance as rapid change and social dislocation has increased. Rounding out Past, Present, Future are a number of songs unearthed from Bonney’s lost album, Eyes of Blue.

Forever and Everyman were recorded during Bonney’s time living in the US while his band Crime & the City Solution remained on hiatus. At this time, he turned to the melancholy and plaintive sounds of dobro and lap steel of 1970s country music. In these sounds he found a feeling of longing for the familiar, for security and stability, songs about family and belonging, memories of a childhood farm in Tasmania. The result was two country-tinged, compassionate and prescient portraits of life in late 20th Century America through Tasmanian eyes.

Bonney’s path led him into outback Australia, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh – a life rich in extremes of color and conflict, of trauma, of humanity and inhumanity, of power and powerlessness. It was not always easy to witness and eventually, as happens with all that walk this road, he had seen too much and it was time to stop. It was time to re-embrace something simple, something personal – his music. He pulled tapes from shoeboxes and listened to the old albums as well as tracks that were destined for an unreleased album, Eyes of Blue, which was recorded in Detroit with a band featuring Matt Smith (Outrageous Cherry, the Volbeats), Troy Gregory (the Dirtbombs, Electric Six, Killing Joke) and a guest appearance by Chuck Prophet. As he revisited these earlier recordings, Bonney found that they sounded fresh and every bit as relevant – if not more relevant –  than when he had recorded them.

 Simon Bonney – Past, Present, Future (Mute)
1. Ravenswood (from Forever)
2. Don't Walk Away From Love (from Everyman)
3. There Can Only Be One (from Forever)
4. Where Trouble Is Easier To Find (from Everyman)
5. A Sweeter Kind Of Pain
6, Everyman (unedited) (from Everyman)
7. Duchess
8. The Great Survivor
9. Forever (from Forever)
10. Annabelle Lee
11. Eyes Of Blue
12. Can’t Believe Anymore



Simon Bonney on tour with Mark Lanegan
May 3 - Jacksonville, FL - Rockville
May 4 - Atlanta, GA - Shaky Knees
May 5 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
May 7 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
May 8 - Detroit, MI - The Shelter
May 10 - Marston, NC - Epicenter Festival
May 11 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
May 13 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair
May 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
May 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
May 16 - Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony
May 18 - Columbus, OH - Sonic Temple

Happy Birthday Ann Peebles!

Celebrating the birthday of Memphis soul great Ann Peebles with a couple of her Hi label classics. 


Friday, April 26, 2019

One For The Weekend: The Raincoats

Here's Gina Birch's video for "Fairytale in the Supermarket" off The Raincoats debut 7-inch released 40 years ago today on Rough Trade. 

Carlton Jumel Smith cruises with 70s soul vibe on 1634 Lexington Avenue

Check out Carlton Jumel Smith's "This Is What Love Looks Like!" off his forthcoming album for Timmion out May 10th.

Here's the scoop...
After Carlton Jumel Smith hit hard in soul circles with his deep Timmion debut single "I Can't Love You No More" and following it up with the tight "This Is What Love Looks Like!", Carlton's back at it with an album full of solid gold contemporary soul.

The material mined here is none other than the vintage groove troves of classic 1970's R&B, something the dependable Cold Diamond & Mink crew brews up effortlessly in the studio. Carlton's songwriting and performances carry strong echoes of Curtus Mayfiled's classic 70s Curtom productions, Stax and Hi label Memphis soul and naturally Motown. We're talking about the musical traditions he's absorbed since witnessing James Brown at the Apollo as an 8-year old.

Setting the mood with the dancefloor ready "Woman You Made Me", Carlton follows it up with the devastating Chi-Town-styled group harmony groover "Remember Me."

Fans of the Menahan Street Band will be all over the moody "Help Me (Save Me From Myself)." The album's flipside sequences the otherworldly shuffler "You Gonna Need Me" with Carlton's welcome update of his widely slept on "I'd Better", swapping its programmed modern soul for a warmer, more organic approach.

On his album Carlton Jumel Smith explores different shades of the golden era of soul music, and it would be hard to find anyone doing it with such taste and style in 2019. Check out "This Is What Love Looks Like!" below. Carlton Jumel Smith's 1634 Lexington Ave is out on Timmion Records May 10th – get it right here.




Thursday, April 25, 2019

Happy Birthday Willis Jackson!



Black Lips, Fucked Up, Wooing @ The Phoenix, Thursday

The Black Lips will be previewing their new country album tonight which will likely include their version of Wayne, Pat and Keith's "I'm Tired of You, Satan"




And now a message from Alexander Love's Solid Gold to planet earth



Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Teenage Head record release @ The Horseshoe, Friday

Pick up a copy of Teenage Head's just reissued debut album which comes with a bonus "Picture My Face" single. 

LINKS
CBC-FM How four teenagers from Hamilton came to be Teenage Head


Midweek Mixdown: ¡Gózalo! Vol. 4: Bugalú Tropical

The fourth volume of VampiSoul's ¡Gózalo! series documents Peru's transition from the boogaloo era of the 60s to the 70s salsa takeover. 

¡GÓZALO! Volume 4: Bugalú Tropical (VampiSoul)
Volume 4 of VampiSoul's successful ¡Gózalo! series of tropical Peruvian music of the 60s is an exciting mix of musical gems which link the mambo era to the dawn of salsa in South America.  Another great selection of tracks from a little known but essential period in the development of Latin Music. A terrific, dance-inducing mix of genres across 28 tracks: boogaloo, mambo, son, guaracha, cumbia – check the track list below. Get a copy from the Munster Records site right here.



1. Saludo Maracaibo - Pedro Miguel y sus Maracaibos 00:00
2. Boogaloo en ambiente - Alfredo Linares y su Sonora 2:51 3. Yo traigo boogaloo - El Combo de Pepe 5:17 4. Cumbayea - Mario Allison y su Combo 7:40 5. Psicosis - La Sonora de Lucho Macedo 10:31 6. El Diablo - Compay Quinto 13:30 7. Yo no pido nada - Orquesta Casino de Hugo Macedo 16:17 8. Guarachera - Ñico Estrada y su Sonora 18:37 9. Guajireate - Coco Lagos y sus Orates 21:12 10. Pa gozar candela - Betico Salas y su Sonora 23:38 11. Boogaloo boogaloo - Joe Di Roma y su Orquesta 25:59 12. Descarga Maracaibo - Pedro Miguel y sus Maracaibos 29:07 13. Guayaba - Popi y sus Pirañas 32:01 14. Peruvian guajira - Melcochita y Karamanduka 34:14 15. Kintos instrumental - Los Kintos 37:12 16. Boogaloo en España - La Sonora de Lucho Macedo 39:52 17. Yenyere cuma - Pedro Miguel y sus Maracaibos 43:27 18. Pollo atrasado - Chivirico Dávila y Sonora MAG 47:17 19. Busco una chiquita - Coco Lagos y sus Orates 50:00 20. Caliente - Mario Allison y sus Estrellas 52:59 21. La charanga del espacio - Carlos Pickling y Orquesta 56:21 22. Por tu amor - Willy Marambio 58:48 23. Canta, canta - Los Hilton's 1:01:18 24. Descarga - Alfredo Linares y su Sonora 1:04:04 25. El carbonero - Compay Quinto 1:07:34 26. Aguanile - Los Girasoles 1:09:47 27. Malambo - Los Diablos Rojos 1:13:15 28. Mambo Ravel - Andrés de Colbert y Orquesta 1:16:16

When drawing the musical map of Latin America, the mistake is often made to identify the zone of influence of Afro-Latin music only around the Caribbean. It’s true that the great creators are Cuban and Puerto Rican, but when their music spread out across Latin America, similar scenes sprung up in other parts of the continent. It was during the 50s that the genre captivated Peru.

Tropical orchestras appeared everywhere with a repertoire based on mambos, guarachas and, to a lesser extent, boleros and merengues. However, over the Afro-Cuban foundation they added diverse influences and reached a new sound, different from their inspiration. Within the core of the tropical music scene, the Sonora de Lucho Macedo clearly stands out; they were the first group of its kind in the middle of an environment exclusively populated by orchestras. The Sonora released more than 80 LPs and countless singles. Of all the ensembles, it had the greatest international success. Beyond his irrefutable professional merits, Macedo’s essential contribution was to recruit musicians that later on would start the most important boogaloo groups. At times, Macedo’s career seems the backbone of this whole story. 


The first one to leave his band and go his own way was Joe Di Roma. Bongoist Ñiko Estrada left a little later to create his Sonora Antillana. From Macedo’s band also came double bass player José “Pepe” Hernández, percussionists Mario Allison and Coco Lagos, trumpet player Tito Chicoma and singer Charlie Palomares – almost all of the main artists of the golden age of boogaloo in the mid-60s, each of them a director of their own band. 

1962 saw the arrival of Nilo Espinosa, a saxophonist with a solid academic formation and a deep knowledge of jazz. He started to record with his own orchestra and in 1965 he would form the group Los Hilton’s. The puzzle was completed with the self-taught pianist Otto de Rojas. They all knew each other from the hotels, parties and TV sets, but especially from the recording studio sessions. 

Although the main record labels, El Virrey, Sono Radio and Iempsa, also recorded tropical music, it was MAG, run by Manuel A Guerrero, which most focused on the genre. Lucho Macedo, once again, was the pioneer. In 1955 he already had a contract. All his disciples stayed at MAG and made a big part of the great recordings from the boogaloo era in the label’s studio. MAG possessed the best infrastructure. Guerrero used to take his recordings to Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the United States, among other countries, and would sell them to foreign record labels. He chose the repertoire for the recordings himself. He built his own musical factory. 


MAG studio’s group of musicians in the 60s was rather eclectic. Some of them would come and go, but there was a core of players who became more or less the house band. The permanent members were Mario Allison, Coco Lagos and Nilo Espinosa. On trumpets were Tito Chicoma and Betico Salas; Alfredo Linares would sometimes play the vibraphone and was the most regular pianist. Víctor Fuentes, Melcochita and the multi-instrumentalist Charlie Palomares were in charge of the vocals. They all played for each other’s bands. 

The height of the tropical orchestras coincided with boogaloo but the massive migration inland towards the capital brought along a radical change in popular music, giving rise to Peruvian cumbia, which also had a tropical foundation. The Afro-Cuban influence, while remaining, left room for a Colombian influence. With the new decade the market was taken over by cumbia and salsa bringing the boogaloo era to a close. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Model Home

Here's the sixth album from Nappy Nappa and Patrick Cain's experimental hip hop project Model Home since forming in 2017.  

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

R.I.P. Morris Dollison Jr. aka Cash McCall, 1941-2019

Sadly, soulful singer/songwriter Morris Dollison, aka Cash McCall has passed away. Funeral arrangements below.




LINKS:
The Jake Feinberg Show: Cash McCall interview

Funeral arrangements for Cash McCall (Morris Dollison, Jr.):
Saturday, May 4, 2019
The Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church
3885 Tchulahoma Road, Memphis, TN 38118
Wake 10:30 am. Funeral Service: 12 noon.
http://www.memphishealingcenter.com




Ian Blurton previews solo album Signals Through The Flames

Here's Louis Durand's sleeve art for Ian Blurton's new album – due June 7th – along with the tracks "Upon Yesterday" and "Space Is Forever. 



Ian Blurton's concert dates
May 1: Montreal @ Turbo Haus w/ Dead Quiet + Mountain Dust + Ian Blurton's Future Now
May 4: Toronto @ Dakota Tavern 7″ release party with Ian Blurton's Future Now + Rough Spells + Sick Things
May 17: Peterborough @ Gordon Best w/ Mokomokai
June 7: Kitchener @ The Starlight w/ Hawkeyes
June 17: Sudbury @ The Townehouse
June 18: Thunder Bay @ The Apollo
June 19: Winnipeg @ Handsome Daughter
June 20: Saskatoon @ Amigo's
June 22: Calgary @ The Palomino/Sled Island

That time Motown took a detour into Detroit garage punk

Check out The Underdogs' snarling "Love's Gone Bad" released as a single on Motown's V.I.P. subsidiary. 

Monday, April 22, 2019

Watch JG Thirlwell perform "Someone Drowned in My Pool"

Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell performed the Wiseblood gem with full ensemble at National Sawdust on March 1. 


Happy Birthday Charles Mingus!

Remembering the great bassist/composer on his day with some 1964 footage of the Charles Mingus Sextet in Sweden & Norway. 

Jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins' well-sampled Windows LP gets deluxe reissue treatment

Thank Judd Apatow's WeWantSounds for the reissue featuring "Red Clay" sampled by ATCQ & Chance The Rapper.





LINKS
From The Red Clay Soil: An Interview with Jack Wilkins

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Happy Birthday Iggy Pop!

Celebrating Iggy's 72nd birthday with a 1979 performance of "I'm Bored" for Australian television.

Jacqueline François vs. Monica Zetterlund

Jacqueline François ("Ne Boude Pas") and Monica Zetterlund ("I New York") each issued unique takes on Paul Desmond's classic Take Five in 1962. 



Saturday, April 20, 2019

Happy Birthday April March!

Celebrating April March's birthday with "Tu Mens" and "Le Temps de L'amour" from way back in the 90s. 


Teodross Avery takes a deep dive into the Coltrane songbook for After The Rain

Saxophonist Teodross Avery's new live tribute to the inspiration of John Coltrane is out May 10th on Tompkins Square. 
In the beginning there was John Coltrane. Growing up in a family that listened to a vast and global array of music, Teodross Avery experienced an epiphany at 13 when he first heard Trane’s epochal harmonic steeplechase “Giant Steps.” Taking up the tenor saxophone, he emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the most powerful young voices on the scene, with two critically hailed releases for GRP/Impulse! Avery’s long and productive journey has taken him down many musical paths, from gigs with jazz legends and hip hop stars to sessions with NEA Jazz Masters and platinum pop albums. With his Tompkins Square label debut After The Rain: A Night for Coltrane, Avery has found his way back home, reasserting himself as a supremely eloquent exponent of the post-Trane jazz continuum. Recorded live at Oakland’s Sound Room, the album is slated for release on May 10th.

“It is a return to my roots,” says Avery, 45, who possesses a huge, brawny tone and a capacious harmonic imagination. “Listening to Trane’s music was my foundation, and this album is definitely a reintroduction to this area of my career. I’ve been busy with a lot of other stuff, but I was always playing acoustic jazz with top level cats. I wasn’t putting out albums. I was on record dates, but not my own albums. This was the perfect opportunity to make my own statement.”

For the Sound Room concert Avery reconnected with some of the Bay Area’s most formidable improvisers, joining forces with pianist Adam Shulman, Oakland-reared, New York-based drummer Darrell Green, and bassist Jeff Chambers, who played on the Yoshi’s album release gig for his seminal 1996 hip-hop inflected album My Generation.

“I grew up hearing Jeff with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Ahmad Jamal and other heavyweight players,” Avery says. “He’s one of the greatest bassists around, but after he made the date at Yoshi’s we didn’t play together until about 2014. He was the logical choice, and so was Darrell, who I played with in the Bay Area and New York. I always love his feel. And I’ve played with Adam since the early 2000s when I did gigs with Marcus Shelby.”

With the highly cohesive band Avery delves deeply into Coltrane’s songbook, opening with a brightly burning run through “Blues Minor.” Maintaining a steady level of energy throughout the nine-minute sojourn, the quartet offers a master class in the power of a briskly swinging mid-tempo groove. The set’s longest piece, “Africa,” is also drawn from the classic 1961 album Africa/Brass, Coltrane’s debut release on Impulse! orchestrated by Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner. It’s an epic performance that builds to ecstatic heights and then simmers back down with Chambers’ eerie arco bass solo backed by Green’s clackety trap work. Listen to "Blues Minor" below.


Cal Massey’s Latin-tinged “Bakai” is a piece introduced on the 1957 Prestige album Coltrane, the saxophonist’s first session as a leader (an underrated composer, Massey is due for rediscovery). Opening unaccompanied, Avery hints at the sing-song theme with a series of smeary ascending figures. As the band joins, he’s off, pushing against Green’s deft cymbal work with some extra grit in his tone. Shulman, a sought after arranger and first-call Bay Area accompanist, takes a particularly graceful, soul-steeped solo.

“Coltrane was one of the first records I bought myself, and I’ve been listening to that album ever since,” Avery says. “I liked that 12/8 rhythm. It relates to my mom, with an Ethiopian rhythmic feel. It’s a song that almost no one’s recorded. I felt like it was time.”

Of all the music that Avery explores, Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue” is the piece that Coltrane played most frequently. First released on 1964’s Live at Birdland (Impulse!), the tune also appears on several posthumously released live Trane albums (but interestingly a studio version has never

Friday, April 19, 2019

Teenage Head record release @ Hamilton's This Ain't Hollywood, Saturday

Here's a Teenage Head interview and performance from 1981 followed by two versions of "Picture My Face" from 1978 and 2019. 





Happy Birthday Dudley Moore!

Remembering actor/comedian Dudley Moore on his day with some of his impressive work as a jazz pianist. 



One For The Weekend: M'Bamina

Check out the JD Twitch edit of M'Bamina's Afro-funk banger "Kilowi-Kilowi" out May 3rd. 

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Happy Birthday Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown!

Remembering Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown on his day with his appearance on Hee-Haw trading licks with Roy Clark on Take The 'A' Train. 

Mystery Lights preview their Too Much Tension! album

Too Much Tension! from Brooklyn's Mystery Lights is out May 10th on Wick Records. They rock Toronto's Monarch Tavern June 27th. 


1. I'm So Tired (of Living in the City) 0:20
2. Someone Else is in Control 2:53
3. Watching the News, Gives Me the Blues 8:57
4. Traces 12:35




Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Ron Mann's doc Carmine Street Guitars @ NYC's Film Forum, April 24 to May 7

Kirk Douglas of The Roots happened to stop by Rick Kelly's shop Carmine Street Guitars while Ron Mann was filming his excellent documentary.

Carmine Street Guitars
The mystique of the Greenwich Village as a haven for bohemians, artists, and musicians lives on (just steps from Film Forum) at Carmine Street Guitars: Rick Kelly and apprentice Cindy Hulej build handcrafted, one-of-a-kind instruments from wood salvaged from the city’s defunct buildings. (Unfazed 93-year-old mom Dorothy keeps the books and answers the phone.) Nothing looks or sounds like Rick Kelly’s guitars, which is why they’re embraced by Lou Reed and Patti Smith, among others. A week in the life of the shop features visits from its devoted clientele: Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Band), Dallas & Travis Good (The Sadies), Kirk Douglas (The Roots), Eleanor Friedberger, Nels Cline, jazz guitarists Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot, and filmmaker/composer Jim Jarmusch. Watch the trailer and a Q&A with filmmaker Ron Mann below. Check the links for screenings and tickets. 







Happy Birthday Buster Williams!

Here's Buster Williams performing with Herbie Hancock at Studio de Joinville le Pont in Paris on March 23, 1972. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Steve Maxwell Von Braund

Andy Votel's mix of Steve Maxwell Von Braund's twisted "Monster Planet" appears on the Monster Skies comp. 
Various Artists – Monster Skies (Finders Keepers/Dual Planet)
Finders Keepers recently announced the birth of a new collaborative series of comps and reissues with the brains behind the awe inspiring Australian based Roundtable/Dual Planet archival labels who for the last few years have continued to blow our minds with recent releases by Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Cybotron, Teisco and Egisto Macchi amongst others.

On the 14-track Monster Skies compilation LP there are unheard and exclusive tracks from some of the aforementioned luminaries rubbing shoulders with fresh new finds unearthed from the vintage vaults of some of Finders Keepers most celebrated patchbay polymaths such as Suzanne Ciani, Andrzej Korzynski and the lost Alaskan synthesists Clone and mysterious saxophone playing Australian synthesist Steve Maxwell Von Braund who somehow managed to convince celebrated Masters Apprentices frontman Jim Keays of to voice his apocalyptic vision "Monster Planet" back in 1975.

As a further testimony to Finders Keepers ongoing collaborations with enthusiastic and likeminded detective labels, this lost pop cultural exchange literally spans the entire length and width of the globe to bring you more untravelled and unreleased mutant strains of 60s/70s/80s vintage voltage pop, electronic rock, malformed tape music and zombified funk punk.

Monster Skies pools the resources of two of the most unique and studious vinyl snoop-units and plummets the lost vaults, damp cellars and dark corners of this alternative musical universe from either side of the pear-shaped planet. Check out Steve Maxwell Von Braund's aforementioned electro-psych curio "Monster Planet" followed by the track list for Monster Skies.



Monster Skies
1. Clone – Mind Script
2. Suzanne Ciani – Shrinking Particles
3. Teisco – Mutazione
4. Steve Maxwell Von Braund – Monter Planet (Andy Votel Edit)
5. Lucien Goethals – Studie 2
6. Don Harper – The Ghouls
7. Philippe D’Aram – Bizarre Cult 2
8. Andrzej Korzynski – Zombie
9. Val Stephan – Abstractum
10. Clone –  Halloween (Edit)
11. The Ultra Sonic Perception – The Laboratory 2
12. X Ray Pop – The Living Dead
13. Emerald Web – The Raven
14. Ian Macfarlane – Muzak To Moralise By

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Austin's Black Pumas ready debut album for June release

Grupo Fantasma's Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton are Black Pumas. Listen to "Colors" off their self-titled debut due June 21. 
Here's the scoop...
Black Pumas were the first artist to release music on Colemine Records' new sub-label Karma Chief Records last year. In partnership with ATO Records, Karma Chief is releasing the Black Pumas self-titled debut LP on June 21st.

The band is led by the creative partnership between Grammy-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Burton is a relative newcomer who arrived in Austin in 2015 after busking his way across the country from Los Angeles, while Quesada has a storied reputation for playing in bands like Grupo Fantasma and Brownout.

Listen to "Colors" and a full performance from last year (below) and then pre-order a limited edition red/black coloured wax version of Black Pumas' debut album right here while supplies last.