Insect Electronica from Southeast Asia
(Sublime Frequencies) Used CD $10.00 (Out-of-stock)
A tribute to swarms of male dragonflies of Southeast Asia that during mating join in choruses of high-pitched tones to court their mates — the ones that don't succeed in finding a mate eventually scream so loud their chests explode and they drop dead to the ground (kind of like emo-core bands). Recorded live and unprocessed by Tucker Martine in Laos, Thailand and Burma, Brokenhearted Dragonflies features field recordings of droning cicadas, dragonflies and other insects that create a tropical hallucination of strange symphonies and alien sounds. Liner notes by Hakim Bey.
Guarana Superpower
(Sublime Frequencies) Used LP $10.00
This Ankara-based group of contemporary players is steeped in psychedelics, surf, and expansive rock instrumental grandeur. Formed in 1999, the band led by Özüm İtez (electric guitar) and Işık Sarıhan (percussion) drifts from majestic beauty to blazing delirium with İtez etching his manifesto for electric guitar every step of the way, backed by Sarihan’s wide variety of styles. “MEGA Lambada” and “Guarana Superpower” are more reminiscent of late ’80s post-punk experimental mind-melting, referencing Torch Of The Mystics-era Sun City Girls in grand fashion. Other cuts expand on tripped-out surf, retro Cambodian rock, electrified Thai Mor Lam and Saharan guitar music.
Sujud
(Sublime Frequencies) LP $18.00
By weaving Indonesian folkloric moods with various shades of modern genre hybrids, Rully Shabara’s extreme vocals and Wukir Suryadi’s homemade instruments navigate one extremely powerful Bahasa Indonesian word — tanah — which translates to “soil-ground-land-earth.” Shabara’s vocals conjure spirits from the soil; Suryadi’s new guitar pushes the sound into new territory, utilizing delay, loops, and other effects, creating grounded backdrops of folk metal, punk attitudinal, and droning earthscapes.
Highway To Hassake
(Sublime Frequencies) Used 2xLP $24.00
The first Western release by this Syrian cultural phenom, compiled from cassettes recorded between 1996 and 2006. Souleyman’s rich, flexible voice has bite in the frantic numbers (mostly in dabke style, typical Syrian party music) and a lot of soul in ataba songs (a mournful style). The band includes oud players Hamid Souleyman and Ali Shakir, and keyboardist Rizan Sa'id, whose lightning-fast solos can put Rick Wakeman to shame. Sealed
Magical Nights – Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (1964-1966)
(Sublime Frequencies) CD $16.00
The unique strengths and qualities of Phương Tâm’s voice, coupled with her commanding stage presence, elevated her to top billings on Saigon’s nightclub stages in the early 1960s, eventually catching the attention of record companies and composers (Y Vân, Khánh Băng, Trường Hải, Thanh Sơn, Y Vũ and Mặc Thế Nhân, among others). Her energy translated well in the studio, backed by electric guitars, contrabass, drums, lush brass sections, saxophone, piano, organ and rich backing vocals. Between 1964-1966, Phương Tâm became a vital centerpiece of pop music of the time, and one of the first singers to perform and record rock’n’roll (known locally as nhạc kích động, or action music). She could also transform a jazz ballad into something otherworldly. While these styles were influenced by contemporary trends worldwide, the musicians and composers worked to localize the sounds, incorporating linguistic adaptations, lyrical content and artistic traditions into something all their own. The album features 25 tracks, restored and remastered from original records and reel tapes, six-panel digipak, two 32-page booklets in English and Vietnamese, liner notes by Hannah Hà and Mark Gergis, exclusive photos, album and sheet music art, original magazine and newspaper extracts, nightclub advertisements and more. At the heart of this project is a family story – Hannah Hà’s dedication to recovering and sharing her mother’s musical legacy — and also a story that adds critical context to the fragmented understanding of Vietnamese popular culture during the 20th century, particularly after so much has been lost to war and dislocation.
Bollywood Steel Guitar
(Sublime Frequencies - SF043) Used CD $10.00 (Out-of-stock)
Twenty-one pop instrumental music film hits from India between 1962 and 1986. All the masters of the steel guitar sound from the period are represented: Van Shipley, Kazi Aniruddha, S. Hazarasingh, Sunil Ganguly, and Charanjit Singh. An entirely different approach that rocks, swings, and grooves through some of India's most beloved film tunes, the electric steel guitar as lead instrument transforms the already infectious melodies into a multitude of higher sound dimensions.
1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground
(Sublime Frequencies) Used LP $40.00
In the early 1970s, a new group of singers and musicians operating on the Northwest coast of Algeria were forced underground and banned from broadcasts, yet slowly built a small following around the seaside cabarets of Wahran (Oran). Groupe El Azhar and Messaoud Bellemou, who can comfortably be considered the godfather of the modern Raï sound, and L’Orchestre Bellemou, used modern instruments (especially the trumpet), which became during the 1970s the backbone of the Wahrani genre. Reinterpreting the gasba melodies on trumpet, Bellemou backed singers such as Boutaiba Sghir and Sheikh Benfissa who carried on the lyrical tradition of their forefathers singing about daily preoccupations and problems as well as love affairs, alcohol, or simply owning an automobile. Toward the late 1970s, Cheb Zergui brought in electric guitar with a wah-wah pedal. The development of vinyl pressing in Algeria enabled many small artists including the Wahrani scene to record and release singles documenting their repertoire. 180-gram vinyl. Sealed