Schizophonics @ Sound Garage, Friday

Don't miss San Diego's Schizophonics tearin' it up at Sound Garage on Friday. Tickets are $35.19. Get 'em right here. 

Get a copy of The Schizophonics' new album Burning Floor via Bandcamp right here. 

Don Cherry's 1977 live recording with Collin Walcott & Leon Thomas due in November

Don Cherry is joined by Collin Walcott and Leon Thomas for the Sunrise 2LP release recorded live in Michigan back in 1977.

Here's the scoop from WeWantSounds...

Wewantsounds is proud to present the first official release of a legendary 1977 concert capturing Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Leon Thomas in their only documented performance together. Recorded live on March 5, 1977, at Pease Auditorium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the performance featured the three musicians playing an immersive, hypnotic set, joined for part of the evening by the rest of Oregon. 

Long circulating among a few Don Cherry fans, the full concert is now available as a deluxe, remastered 2-LP gatefold set featuring Moki Cherry artwork and new liner notes by Jason Weiss in conversation with James Quinlan, the concert's producer—licensed by the Don Cherry Estate and producer James Quinlan​​.

Pre-order a copy via Bandcamp right here. Check out some audio clips following the track listing below. 

Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, Leon Thomas – Sunrise 

1. Sunrise 23.11

2. Doussn’ Gouni Fly pt. 1 16.38

3. Doussn’ Gouni Fly pt. 2 12.19

4. Eastern Flute Song 6.14

5. Holy River 20.05

Personnel

Don Cherry: Pocket Trumpet, Doussn’Gouni, Flute, Percussion, Voice

Collin Walcott: Tabla, Sitar, Congas, Hammered Dulcimer, Percussion, Voice

Leon Thomas: N'dehou, Percussion, Voice

with

Glen Moore: Bass - Paul McCandless: Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Flute - Ralph Towner: Guitar, Piano, Percussion

Recorded Live at Pease Auditorium, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 5 March 1977

Concert produced by James Quinlan

The Red Clay Strays, The Revivalists, Haley Reinhart @ RBC Amphitheatre, Wednesday

If you're going to see The Red Clay Strays tonight, get there early to catch Haley Reinhart's opening set starting at 6:30 pm. 

Get tickets for the Red Clay Strays show at RBC Amphitheatre on September 30th right here. Show starts at 6:30 pm!

WeWantSounds adds to their Brigitte Fontaine reissue with "Comme à la Radio: On Air"

In addition to their expanded version of Brigitte Fontaine's Comme à la Radio, WeWantSounds has a 2 LP "On Air" package due. 

Here's the scoop from WeWantSounds...

Wewantsounds is delighted to present "Comme à la Radio: On Air" – a limited-edition 2-LP companion (2,000 copies worldwide due November 20) to its expanded edition of Brigitte Fontaine’s landmark 1970 album "Comme à la Radio" (out October 23 – check out the "Special Edition" available here)

Featuring previously unreleased live recordings made for the French ORTF radio (INA) between 1969 and 1971 with Areski Belkacem and a host of outstanding musicians, the set is complemented by a second LP of unissued studio recordings from Pierre Barouh's Saravah Records vaults, including two instrumental versions of the title track and the complete 10-minute take of “Leo” with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago.

Newly remastered from the original tapes, Comme à la Radio: On Air offers an unique insight into the making of one of the most groundbreaking works in French music.

Includes:

Fascinating live renditions of “Comme à la radio,” “Tanka II,” “L'été l'été,” and “Le Brouillard” featuring Areski Belkacem Robin Kenyatta, Ronnie Beer, Jacques Higelin and more

Previously unissued studio bonuses featuring:

▪ A groundbreaking instrumental version of “Comme À La Radio” plus a newly discovered alternate instrumental take

▪ A complete 10-minute take of “Leo” featuring Art Ensemble of Chicago

▪ An alternative mix of “Tanka II”

4-page bilingual booklet (English/French) featuring an introduction by Benjamin Barouh and an essay by Benoît Mouchart! 

You can pre-order "Comme à la Radio: On Air" (2LP/CD/Digital) right here. 

Supersuckers, The Rumours @ The Horseshoe, Tuesday

Don't miss the triumphant return to the Horseshoe of Eddie Spaghetti and crew with an opening blast from The Rumours. 

If any tickets are left for The Supersuckers show at the Horseshoe tonight, you can grab 'em right here. 

R.I.P. David Marsden, 1941-2026

Influential Toronto broadcaster David Marsden, aka CFNY personality The Marsbar, has died at 85. Jaymz Bee shares his thoughts. 

 

DAVID MARSDEN 1941-2026

There are two kinds of disc jockeys. The first kind plays records. The second kind plays you. They reach through the speaker, grab you by the lapels of your imagination, and rearrange the furniture in your head. David Marsden was the second kind, and there were never many of those to begin with. Now there’s one fewer, and the airwaves feel a little more like air.

David passed on Friday, September 25th. He was 85, though I’d have bet money he was lying about that. As his friends at NYthespirit.com put it, borrowing his own phrase, he has put on his wings. It’s a good line. It’s the kind of thing a man says when he has spent his whole life believing that radio was a form of flight.

Let me tell you what he meant to me, and then let me tell you what he meant to everybody else, because the second part is bigger, but the first part is mine.

When Look People came along, we were not an easy band to understand. We were loud, strange, funny, and dressed like a thrift store had exploded in a planetarium. Most gatekeepers looked at us the way a cat looks at a cucumber. David Marsden got it. He was one of the first to get it. That’s the thing about true tastemakers: they don’t wait for the consensus. They are the consensus, six months early. When a man like that says yes to you, you walk around for a week feeling taller, and you keep a little of that height for the rest of your life. Because of him and CFNY, our album “Small Fish Big Pond” (recorded at Kensington Sound, produced by Mike Alyanak) had FIVE CASBY nominations! We played their awards show at The Concert Hall where Great Bob Scott and Don Berns became fast friends!

David had that effect on a whole generation of artists. He discovered so many of them that listing them would take up the rest of this page and half of the next. He didn’t just play new music. He believed in it, the way some people believe in God or the Leafs.

The Boy from Stratford

He was born David Michie in Toronto on March 2nd, 1941, and raised in Stratford, where the rest of the town was busy with Shakespeare and young David was busy with rock and roll. As a teenager he put on sock hops and managed a local band called The Revols. That’s the origin story right there. Most kids dream of being the star. David dreamed of being the guy who makes the star possible, which takes a rarer kind of imagination.

He knocked on the door of something like thirty radio stations before one let him in. CFCO in Chatham. Then CHLO in St. Thomas. Then, before anybody could stop him, evenings at CKEY in Toronto, where he was Dave Mickie and so outrageous on air that Marshall McLuhan mentioned him in Understanding Media. Think about that. The medium was the message, and for a moment, the message was Dave Mickie. He turned up on CBC’s Music Hop and CHCH’s Mickie A Go Go. He was a teen idol for people who wanted to be in the know rather than in the magazines.

Becoming Marsden

In the late sixties he went to Montreal and came back a different man, at least by name. David Marsden. CKGM, then CHOM-FM, then home to Toronto and the free-form days of CHUM-FM, where he talked promoters into booking Pink Floyd in this city for the first time. Somewhere there’s an alternate Toronto where that never happened, and it’s a duller place. Sometime around then he befriended John Finley, who went on to become a famous singer with Jon & Lee & The Checkmates, Rhinoceros and later as a soul singer under his own name, recording for my label, Vesuvius Music. John had fun stories about him. Apparently he was famous before he was famous.

Then, in 1977, Brampton. CFNY. Two years later he was program director, and the station became The Spirit of Radio. I don’t think people who weren’t there can quite grasp it. It wasn’t a format. It was an attitude. It was a station that assumed its listeners were curious, intelligent, and a little weird, and it was right. Rush wrote a song about it. You don’t get a song from Rush for being adequate.

CFNY didn’t just reflect the new music scene in this country. It built the stage and turned on the lights. David and his people took the U-Know Awards national with CBC as the CASBYs. He was Canada’s voice for the international radio broadcast of Live Aid in 1985. He took The Spirit of Radio to Vancouver’s CKST in the early nineties, came back to launch Canada’s first online radio hub at Iceberg Media in 1999 (when most of us were still figuring out dial-up), hosted The Marsden Theatre at CKGE in Oshawa for more than a decade, and then built NYthespirit.com to keep the free-form flame burning online.

He’s in the CAB Hall of Fame. He’s one of only two Canadians in the “Dear Mr. DJ” exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Those are honours. But the real honour is harder to hang on a wall: thousands of people who can tell you exactly where they were when they first heard a song on his watch.

The Redwood

I only really met him a few months ago. Isn’t that something? Decades of orbiting the same planet, and we finally sat down together near the end. We talked about aging and health, the way men of a certain vintage do once the small talk is exhausted, which takes about four minutes. He was articulate, charming, and, above all, grateful. That word keeps coming back to me. Grateful.

He gave a talk at the Redwood Theatre and about two hundred people showed up. He couldn’t believe it. Genuinely couldn’t. This is a man who changed the sound of a country, and he was surprised that people wanted to hear him speak. That’s not false modesty. That’s the real thing, and it’s rarer than a first pressing.

He showed a slide show and told stories about his youth, including going to Graceland as a teenager. I love that image: young David Michie from Stratford standing at the gates of Elvis’s house, taking notes. Even then he was doing research.

He had grown his hair long. He did not look his age, and he certainly didn’t act it. Some people get old. Other people just get more experienced at being young. David was the second kind, again.

Station Identification

It’s been said - something to the effect - that style is knowing who you are and not giving a damn. David Marsden had style, but he also gave a damn, deeply, about artists, about listeners, and about the idea that radio could be an adventure instead of a jukebox with commercials. That combination is almost extinct. We should put it on a list and protect its habitat.

The folks at NYthespirit.com say the station will keep broadcasting in his honour, and that a celebration of life will be announced in the coming months. I’ll be there. So will a lot of musicians who owe him more than they can say, and a lot of listeners who grew up with his voice in the dark, telling them that the world was bigger and stranger and better than they’d been led to believe.

It meant so much to see him recently. It means more now.

There was nobody like him. There won’t be again. But somewhere, right now, a kid is knocking on the door of a radio station for the thirtieth time, and I hope somebody opens it.

Fly high, David. The spirit of radio is you. 

– Jaymz Bee

Sound Library Gems: "Tropical" by Romolo Grano & Paolo Renosto (aka Lesiman)

Fans of Lesiman's darker impulses will find a lot to love about the "Tropical" album on Cicci Santucci's New Tape label from 1972

Here's the scoop...

The Italian sound library album from 1973 known as "Tropical" is a rare collection of music composed by Romolo Grano and Paolo Renosto, better known by his alias Lesiman.

​The rarely seen 18-track Tropical album was originally released on Cicci Santucci's label New Tape —known for its ultra-limited pressing runs of 100 to 200 copies per title—the label's archive is today owned and maintained by SONOR Music Editions. 

Renosto and Grano make good use of flute and Hammond organ to create a set of creepy, tension-filled soundscapes, many of which bear a dark sense of impending doom that would work well in a dimly-lit horror film scenario. 

Check out the stand-out tracks "Macchine Nello Spazio" and "Beside The Stones"​

R.I.P. Mighty Sparrow, 1935-2026

Sadly, legendary calypso king Mighty Sparrow, aka Slinger Francisco, has passed away at 91. He'll be greatly missed. 

Luke Doucet @ The Bell & Beacon, Monday

Since Nichol Robertson is on the road, Whitehorse guitar ace Luke Doucet will be filling in tonight at the Bell & Beacon at 9:30 pm.

Charlie Parr previews new "Rooming House" concept album with animated video

Charlie Parr's new Rooming House album is out October 16 – catch him at The Horseshoe on November 20.   

Here's the scoop...

“These folks here, in this record, have no idea what’s wrong. Or how to help. They are sick with the longing to make everything better. And they can’t. Tiny things are important. This house could be anywhere. These things could happen to anyone.” With this reflection, Charlie Parr introduces the characters of Rooming House, a conceptual folk opera that chronicles the lives of Upper Midwesterners through his quietly raucous, deeply rooted, and empathetic blues. These are songs of lost memories and hardship, but also of the improvised acts of kindness that help neighbors make do. Joined by celebrated drummer and fellow Minnesotan Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Parr cements his role as one of the great troubadours of our time with an album that becomes its own small yet profound offering of care. 

"The song 'Rooming House' is where the listener is introduced to the characters in this musical play while they’re going about a normal evening of preparing food together. A terminal illness is introduced here, too, kind of another character or at least assuming the role of one, when our hero realizes that the pain he’s feeling is more than food poisoning. There are two movements to this song, divided in time by something less than a couple months and on the album by just three songs, and Dave King and I played the entire thing as one song so we had to fade it out in the middle and fade it back in later." 

Charlie Parr's Rooming House album is out October 16th via Smithsonian Folkways Records. Pre-order a copy from Bandcamp here or your platform of choice right here. 

Get tickets for Charlie Parr's show at The Horseshoe in Toronto on November 20 right here. 

Watch the video for "Rooming House" animated and illustrated by Drew Christie below. 

Happy Birthday Randy Bachman!

Cheers to guitarist/composer Randy Bachman of The Guess Who, BTO, Brave Belt and yes, Garnet Sweatshirt.

Dale Watson & His Lone Stars, India Ramey @ The Horseshoe, Sunday

Dale Watson's show with India Ramey at the Horseshoe tonight at 7 pm should be the honky tonk country event of the season! 

 

Before They Were Famous: David S. Ware

Saxophonist David S. Ware's first appearance on vinyl is this private-press free jazz blast by Abdul Hannan's Third World from '71. 

He Mistook Her For A Swan, Grier Coppins @ Handlebar, September 26

Steve Koch & Colleen Hodgson (left) will be joined by Grier Coppins & Mad Larry Graves at Handlebar on Saturday (Sept. 26) from 3-6 pm.

Here's the scoop from Grier Coppins...

"Trickbag at Handlebar in Kensington this Saturday cancelled for the Kensington Jazz Festival. I’ll be back w/ a new bag of tricks next Saturday Sept 26. ‘He Mistook her for a Swan’, Steve Koch & Colleen Hodgson back me up for the 1st set & I will back the Swans for the 2nd set. Mad Larry Graves on the drums. British Folk Revival inspired tales of murder, betrayal, infidelity, magic… with the odd rocker, jig & a reel tossed in for the dancers. Should be a great afternoon’s listen. Come on out!"

Watch this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH3YRn9M7Sy/

Coppins & HMFAS, Saturday, September 26, Handlebar (159 Augusta), 3-6 pm.

Listen to He Mistook Her For A Swan's latest release "Same Old Man" along with some "Voodoo Blues"

The Rumours opening for The Supersuckers @ The Horseshoe, Tuesday

Should be fun to see how The Supersuckers follow The Rumours' opening onslaught at The Horseshoe on Tuesday. Check the clips!

Here's a short clip of The Rumours in action at the Horseshoe in Toronto for those who missed it.  

London, Ont venue Call The Office gets a documentary – watch the trailer

Sean Stanley's film about icon London, Ontario rock club Call The Office relies on musician interviews and grainy concert footage.  

Call The Office documentary premieres at WIFF

Call The Office is one of Canada’s most iconic music venues. The venue created a vibrant social hub in London, Ontario and thrived for generations. It brought such notable bands as Radiohead, The Tragically Hip, Bif Naked, D.O.A, Link Wray, and Bad Brains to London. It also helped launch the careers of musicians such as Danko Jones, Sum 41, Kittie, and Death From Above 1979.

From the voices of the bookers, staff, patrons, and bands, this documentary examines what made the place so special. Director/Producer Sean Stanley frequented Call The Office for decades, and through a plethora of interviews with musical legends—including Joey Keithley, John Wright, Mike Watt, Lou Barlow, Danko Jones, Ian Blurton, members of The Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy— and a trove of archival footage, shows why it meant so much to so many people, and why it lasted for decades.

Sean Stanley's Call The Office documentary screens as part the Windsor International Film Festival at the Armouries Performance Hall (37 University Ave. East, Windsor) on Saturday, October 31 at 8:10 pm. Get tickets here. Watch the trailer below. 

 

Clash Country w/ Steve Ketchen & Jim Masyk @ Lola, Saturday

Check out Jim & Steve putting their own spin on a few Clash faves on the Lola patio in Kensington Market Saturday from 2-5 pm.

R.I.P. Italian sound library composer/arranger Paolo Casa

Sadly, the Italian sound library ace Paolo Casa – behind "Clouds" and "Nature" – has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

From SONOR Music Editions...

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of composer Paolo Casa, a cherished friend and an integral part of the Sonor family.

​As his publishers and producers, we had the honor of working alongside Paolo across a ten-year journey, scoring dozens of documentaries for RAI. Beyond his distinct elegance and his extraordinary contribution to library music, Paolo was defined by a rare humanity and warmth.

​Losing Paolo means losing a vital pillar of our story, yet his sound and legacy will remain an enduring part of our catalog and memories.

​Ciao Paolo, you’re now in the Clouds.

One For The Weekend: The Fuzziyama Surfers

Check out a Fuzziyama Surfers performances of "Chanbara Ogin" & "Oh! Showgatsu" off their new 4-song EP – available here!  

Remembering Jack Costanzo, aka Mr. Bongo, on his birthday

Raising a glass to Jack Costanzo, the legendary Mr. Bongo, with a few clips with Nat "King" Cole, Marlon Brando & Tubby Hayes.

Midweek Mixdown: Calypso Heatwave w/ DJ Kitschy Mama

Check out DJ Kitschy Mama's swingin' selection of rare calypso and early Jamiacan ska gems on WFMU's Drop-In show.  

Here's the scoop...

Hey Folks! I'm doin a Drop-In on WFMU Rock 'n' Soul Radio! A whole hour of obscure reggae, ska and calypso. Lost tunes by Lord Brynner, The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Count Lasher, Reynolds Calypso Clippers, Bonnie and Skitter with Count Ossie, Jackie Estick, Theo Beckford, Shanley Duffas, Granville Williams' Orchestra, Lascelles Perkins, Roy Fuller & Tiny Brown, and more ole' scratchies! Listen in right here: https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/152958. 

Martin Freeman rejoins Eddie Piller for another 'On The Corner' comp

Along with being a fine actor, Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman is also a fan of dancefloor jazz, funk, soul and yé-yé swingers.  

Here's the scoop...

After a five-year break, Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller return with their latest compilation: ‘On The Corner’ (out October 23 via Acid Jazz Records). While their two previous collections have shone a spotlight quite specifically on jazz and soul, the latest iteration takes a more panoramic approach, taking in those loves, but adding in some British mod stomp, neo-library music and some French yé-yé, as Martin says in his notes.

Martin is of course the multi-award-winning actor famed for The Office, The Hobbit, Sherlock and The Responder, but also for his deep love of music, which brought him to us with these compilations. On this volume he has chosen well, with obscure cuts from Santana and neo-soul from Kadhja Bonet, and Indo-funk from Ashal Puthli. These sit alongside jazz from Gary Burton and Buddy Rich as well as favourite soul 45s, all topped with the wonderful stew of Traffic’s ‘Medicated Goo’.

Eddie founded Acid Jazz Records in 1988 and even before then was a well-known and successful DJ. His sides show the excitement that he still finds in discovering and playing music. Opening with the synth-led Main Theme from UK cult film The Long Good Friday, he selects beautiful soul and jazzy disco, before entering the world of Brit-Funk with cuts by Hi-Tension and Light Of The World. He brings it home via Ace’s ‘How Long’ and some Brian Auger, which sets us up for the Ye-Ye beat of Jacquelin Taieb and Jacques Dutronc.

Showing our modernist roots, the album comes sharply dressed in its Dean Chalkley-photographed Unknown partnership sleeve on Double LP or CD, with notes by both Ed and Martin. The perfect end-of-year present to yourself or the one you love.

Martin Freeman & Eddie Pillar - On The Corner

1. Big Time Operator – Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band

2. Needle In A Haystack – The Whispers

3. Light Of Life – Santana

4. Vibrafinger – Gary Burton

5. Space Shuttle – Buddy Rich

6. Please Open The Door – Little Charles & The Sidewinders

7. Higher Ground – Doug Carn

8. Procession – Kadhja Bonet

9. Funky Mule – Ike Turner

10. Right Down Here – Asha Puthli

11. Top Brass – Matt Berry*

12. Medicated Goo – Traffic

13. Main Title Theme From Long Good Friday – Francis Monkman

14. I Can’t Keep From Crying Baby Sometimes – The Deidre Wilson Tabac

15. Too Late – Mandrill

16. Wounded Woman – Sandra Wright

17. I’ve Got To Come In – Jean Battle

18. Don’t You Worry Baby, The Best Is Yet To Come – Bessie Banks

19. Don’t Walk Away – General Johnson*

20. Hi Tension – Hi Tension

21. Time – The Light Of The World

22. How Long – Ace

23. Rope Ladder To Th e Moon – Julie Tippets and Brian Auger

24. 7th Du Matin – Jacquelin Taieb

25. Le Responsible – Jacques Dutronc

*2LP Only. Note CD has a different running order

Remembering John Coltrane on his 100th Birthday

Raising a glass to iconic jazz saxophonist/composer John Coltrane his 100th with a 1963 appearance on Jazz Casual, an interview with Ravi Coltrane and more.

Bill Sassenberger talks about Toxic Shock Records @ Emissions, Tuesday

Toxic Shock mainman Bill Sassenberger talks about his books Assassin of Mediocrity and Wanderlust at Emissions on Tuesday. 

Punk rock record store owner and label boss Bill Sassenberger discusses his books “Toxic Shock Records, Assassin of Mediocrity: A Story of Love, Loss and Loud Music” and "Wanderlust and Welcome Mats: The Broccoli Chronicles" at Emissions Records (1114 Dundas St. West, basement) on Tuesday, September 22 from 5 pm to 7 pm. And yes, there will be Toxic Shock merch available. 

Back in 1980, punk rock musician Bill Sassenberger opened the Toxic Shock record store in Pomona, California specializing in tough-to-find punk records on indie labels. Three years later, Sassenberger and his wife Julianna Towns (of Skinner Box) turned Toxic Shock into a record label with the 1983 release of the Noise From Nowhere EP – a 7-inch  compilation of local bands, Kent State, Manson Youth, Modern Industry and his own band Moslem Birth (later renamed Peace Corpse) with sleeve art by Pushead. 

The label went on to release records by Corrosion of Conformity, Skin Yard, Dayglo Abortions, Raw Power and Zero Boys before moving operations to Tucson, Arizona in 1988 and putting out more vinyl from the likes of Sloppy Seconds, The Hickoids, House Of Large Sizes, Th' Inbred and Treepeople. In 1990, the label name was changed to Westworld, the store became Toxic Ranch Records and continued operations until December 31, 2013. Julianna Towns, who had suffered a severe stroke in 2011, passed away in 2019 at the age of 58.  

All of this and much more is covered in  Bill's memoir "Toxic Shock Records – Assassin of Mediocrity: A Story of Love, Loss and Loud Music" which he'll be discussing along with the sequel "Wanderlust and Welcome Mats: The Broccoli Chronicles" at Emissions Records on Tuesday. You can check out a couple of Bill's prior interviews with Alan Brostoff for Goldmine Magazine (from 2924) and Johnny Fever for Equalizing Distort, see links below. 

LINKS
Goldmine Toxic Shock Records' Bill Sassenberger talks about his punk rock memoir
Equalizing Distort Bill Sassenberger interview

Happy 70th Birthday Doug Wimbish!

Cheers to Tackhead, Little Axe, Sugarhill Gang and On-U Sound bass boss Doug Wimbish on his 70th birthday! 

Cheers to Doug from the whole On-U Sound crew! Producer Adrian Sherwood just added a note.

Seu Jorge & Beck vs Nick Drake

Seu Jorge and Beck recently recorded their own version of Nick Drake's "River Man" – check it out. 

P.I.L. This Is Not The Last Tour @ Danforth Music Hall, Saturday

John Lydon and his current Public Image Ltd crew hit Toronto just days after his former Pistols mates. 

Thee Sacred Souls, LA LOM, Womack Sisters @ RBC Amphitheatre, Sept 20

Better grab your tickets quick for this fab triple bill with the Womack Sisters, LA LOM and Thee Sacred Souls in T.O. right here. 

Remembering New Orleans legend Eddie Bo on his birthday

Raising a glass to New Orleans legend Eddie Bo on his birthday with a piano performance, a Little Richard fave and more.   

Analog African uncovers more 80s funk/disco gems cut by Mogadishu's Dur-Dur Band

 Analog Africa's follow-up double album of the Somalian swingers recorded by Dur-Dur Band in the late 80s is out now – check it out!

Here's the scoop from Analog Africa HQ...

Groovers and Movers... DUR-DUR BAND IS BACK !!!

Following the release of Dur-Dur Volumes 1 & 2 in 2018, some eight years later we are finally bringing you Volumes 3 & 4 recorded by this incredibly funky band in Mogadishu back in 1988 & 1989. 

Restored and remastered by five-time Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Michael Graves — these songs have never sounded so good!

You can order your copy directly from our Bandcamp page right here — the most direct way to support us and the work we do. Worldwide shipping from Germany!

Listen to two tracks from the Dur-Dur Band's new 2LP set following a live clip of Dur-Dur Band in action at Mogadishu's Jubba Hotel back in 1988.