Babatunde Olatunji - Drums Of Passion (1959)

ARTIST`````Babatunde Olatunji
ALBUM`````Drums Of Passion

GENRE`````African, Worldbeat, Traditional

YEAR````````1959

Some info
Babatunde Olatunji was a virtuoso drummer who became a sensation in the '60s with his albums of traditional Nigerian drumming and chanting. If Olatunji debuted in today's environment, he would be subjected to much tougher scrutiny and evaluation regarding "authenticity" than he received in the '60s. His heralded albums, particularly Drums of Passion, weren't quite the innovative event some claimed. They were fine LPs, but also contained a heavy dose of show business and sanitized playing that would be duly noted today, particuarly in the specialist press. Still, his albums reportedly were very influential on John Coltrane. They were among the few international releases to not just make the charts, but remain on them for years.

The popularity of Drums Of Passion and More Drums Of Passion predated the '60s black nationalist movement and Afrocentricity of the '80s and '90s. They also had some impact in jazz circles, though they weren't as significant as the Afro-Latin revolution initiated by Mario Bauza, Machito and Chano Pozo.

Album Review from allmusic

Having come to the U.S. from his native Nigeria to study medicine, percussionist Babatunde Olatunji eventually became one of the first African music stars in the States. He also soon counted jazz heavyweights like John Coltrane ("Tunji") and Dizzy Gillespie among his admirers (Gillespie had, a decade earlier, also courted many Cuban music stars via his trailblazing Latin jazz recordings). And, in spite of it being viewed by some as a symbol of African chic, Drums of Passion is still a substantial record thanks to Olatunji's complex and raw drumming. Along with a cadre of backup singers and two other percussionists, Olatunji works through eight traditional drum and chorus cuts originally used to celebrate a variety of things in Nigeria: "Akiwowo" and "Shango" are chants to a train conductor and the God of Thunder, respectively, while "Baba Jinde" is a celebration of the dance of flirtation and "Odun De! Odun De!" serves as a New Year's greeting. The choruses do sound a bit overwrought and even too slick at times (partly due to the fact that most of the singers are not African), but thankfully the drumming is never less than engaging. The many curious world music fans who are likely to check this album out should also be sure to look into even better African drumming by native groups like the Drummers of Burundi and the percussion outfits featured on various field recordings.

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Paroplapi - La Finestra Dell'Ultimo Piano (2005)

ARTIST`````Paroplapi
ALBUM`````La Finestra Dell'Ultimo Piano
GENRE`````World

YEAR````````2005

Some badly translated info
This group, with an unusual name, suggests the beginning of the XXI century the meeting "music-language" coming from the shores of the Mediterranean. Paroplapi draws its inspiration particularly in France and Italy, which represent areas of origin of members of the group. Voices and meanings. The practice and study of this repertoire, highlights the strong ties between the people and values in common, so are no longer the only musical traditions of a region thatartists exploit, but rather a cultural, evolving in the name of unity in diversity. Individual carriers of these directories for many years, members of the trio Paroplapi met in order to offer a broad spectrum of the Latin folk songs, the anthology of what collective memory has gathered on the edge of time.

From http://www.rambles.net
Paroplapi is the name of an Italo-French folk trio that is like a ray of sunshine, and one of the most popular Italian world-roots music groups. The name comes from "little Cecilia, whose words often collide with her lips," daughter of one of the band members, and performer on this CD.In Italian, French and Provençal-Occitan, Paroplapi's sound is a joy.On La Finestra dell'Ultimo Piano, their second CD, the vocals of Samuela Gallinari and Gael Princivalle blend nicely. Giorgio Albiani's guitar adds another dimension. The CD also features standout hurdy gurdy, bagpipes, accordion (Paolo Simonazzi), mandolin (Silvio Trotta), pipe (Stefano Tartaglia) and a host of guests too numerous to mention."A Come Armatura" ("A for Armour") the first song featured, is a nursery rhyme song featuring the children of the band members --- well coached as it turns out -- interwoven with Gallinari's fine, clear Italian soprano. This is the true gem of the record, though not the only first-class track. It's a catchy, lively alphabet song right out of traditional Tuscan lore.Princivalle, whose voice has the timbre of an Occitan Gordon Lightfoot, sings on several tracks including "Maremma," a dialogue between a shepherd and his beloved, from Emilia-Romagna; his voice blends well with that of Gallinari, in complex harmonies.Songs such as "I Disertori" (Italian) and "La Palombe" (Franco-Provençal, originally from an Arabic source) are timely calls for peace, against war. The former is particularly well-done, with Gallinari on vocals, accompanied by the accordeon: "We don't talk about this war / as long as eternity / to conquer a leaf-sized land / how many brothers have died already."Matteo Belli is featured in the role of Dante in "Dante e Arnaut," the concluding track and one of the more interesting, with spoken word over instrumental.


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Super Collider - Head On (1999)

ARTIST`````Super Collider
ALBUM`````Head On
GENRE`````Electronic, Experimental, Eclectic
YEAR````````1999

What?
A hot, hot bigass sounding album that overrides all genre bounds. Woomp!

Album review:
by markl
If you are into electronic music, or are looking for a completely immense, disorienting headphone experience, check out Super Collider's "Head On". It bombards your brain with information, and it takes several listens to start to "get it", but once you do, you'll realize that this some pretty funky stuff. There are strange effects galore, phase shifts, distortions, and all manner of trippy sounds coming at you from all directions. Lots of full-range information (deep, deep bass and crystal clear highs) that will give your headphones (and your brain) a thorough workout. One of the better albums of its type and ideally suited for headphones.

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Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh (1973)

Extraterrestrial gospel

ARTIST`````Magma
ALBUM`````Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
GENRE`````Art Rock, Jazz-rock, Fusion, Psychedelic,
YEAR````````1973

WHO:
Led by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, the Paris-based Magma have been, in their way, perhaps the ultimate progressive rock group; while other artists have achieved greater commercial success and critical acclaim, Magma have typified the many ambitions and excesses of the genre that won them as many detractors as fans, even going so far as to invent their own lyrical and musical language in order to bring their unique vision to life.

Review
(by Sean from www.progreviews.com)

This album is Magma's great opus. Whether one prefers one of their other studio or live releases to it, there is no doubt that Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh is the most original, definitive Magma album around (although this reviewer personally prefers the Mekanik Kommandoh version!).

Featuring a cast of thousands including a choir, brass section, flute and tuned percussion, Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh marries the stripped-down throbbing drive of Zeuhl with orchestral pomposity and operatic aspirations. To those who jokingly describe Magma as Klingon Opera, this is the album that would come closest. The power and command with which Magma drives their themes home with increasingly intense repetition is the key to understanding what the band is all about.

Magma can't really be compared to other progressive rock performers (although many can be compared to them). The dark majesty recalls the classical music of Wagner and Orff, particularly parts of Carmina Burana, but that's about as close as it gets. To understand Magma, one must experience Magma. This album is their masterpiece, and while it might be daunting for the sympho-head or neo-head, (try their live material as an intro instead) it is essential for anyone wanting to find out what Zeuhl was and is all about.

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D. LISSVIK - 7 TRX + INTERMISSION (2008)

STUDIO'S DAN LISSVIK SOLO PROJECT
ARTIST`````D. LISSVIK
ALBUM`````7 TRX + INTERMISSION
GENRE`````EXPERIMENTAL, DUB, FUSION, EASY
YEAR````````2008

FROM:
This album was recommended by Alisa from Norway.

ALBUM REVIEW FROM RESIDENT ADVISOR: As half of Sweden's foremost Balearic revivalists Studio, Dan Lissvik's already well known for poolside dance music that's more horizontally than vertically designed. But where Yearbook 1 and this year's remix collection Yearbook 2 found shape around the duo's bouncy, dub-infected rhythms, Lissvik's debut solo album 7 Trx + Intermission is, fittingly, more a one-man quest: a work intent on musically recreating a sense of beatific solitude. Without vocals and with track numbers over titles, Lissvik foregoes Studio's emphasis on trance-clatter and repetition. In their place are rippling Factory Records guitars, the barest rhythms and a decidedly Eastern-influenced spiritualism, making for an album that nurtures the spare and serene. He draws shapes and symbols in the sand out of lean, serpentine guitars, each open to the listener's angle of sight. Without partner Rasmus Hägg's synth shading, Lissvik's imagery is fit more for the desert than the beach, designed around great clean spaces without people or moving things to distract, just sound and silence in an odd tandem. Despite the emphasis on his ruminative side though, Lissvik hasn't completely neglected his band's taste for big-eyed joy. The album's longest excursion, "A3," shifts from boat holiday guitars into a breezy freeway spin atop hand drums and brawny bass, while "A4" makes easy Saturday night disco out of electronic piano and jaunty wood-cowbell rhythms, a kind of polyester anthem as cheap and delightfully fruitful as its opening chords suggest. "B2" best resembles Studio's knack for the hypnotic strut though; Lissvik filters quiet Eastern tones into a wanderer's dance jam, alternating the dim and contemplative with a more open-collared bass heavy approach. But it's clear that Lissvik's relying on open-vista psychedelia to carry the mood for most of 7 Trx + Intermission. "A1" turns a Spanish guitar intro into a curtain parting for a Sergio Leone film—one of the tense train depot scenes before all hell breaks loose—while "A2" is dressed in enough vague mysticism and candle-lit ambience for an early Doors track. "B1" makes for a kind of mystical Bazaar interlude, swapping out Villalobos' ethnic playgrounding for more solitary spoils. Blending tropical bird noises and what sound like sampled hand-drum patterns into a calm morning alarm that might gently coax you from your sleep, it's "B3" that generates quite a spell for such short length. For a member of a band that's always relied so heavily on the intoxication of repetition, this assured short-form design sometimes feels like a welcome new direction. After all: Yearbook 3 is probably still at least a year away. While we wait, Lissvik's solo debut marks not so much a holding pattern as a distraction well worth our winter attention on its own.

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HENRI TEXIER - AMIR (1996)

FRENCH MASTER OF BASS
ARTIST`````HENRI TEXIER
ALBUM`````AMIR
GENRE`````POST-JAZZ SOMETHING, EXPERIMENTAL, FUSION
YEAR````````1996

ABOUT:
Henri Texier is an outstanding French bassist who has concentrated most of his activity in his native land. This intricate, gentle album is definitely one of his greatest works.

I can't find a decent amount of information anywhere on this album but I can surely recommend it.

Enjoy.

Henri Texier has a strongly physical approach to the bass, although his tone is often described as "bell-like." American auditors may feel that Texier simply walks a crooked line between hard bop and free, but in France Texier has gained recognition for his work in developing a type of jazz that is uniquely French and not beholden to American models. In June 2001, Texier was made a Chevalier of the l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, the highest honor the French government accords to its artists.

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V.A. SOUNDTRACK FOR NAKED RUNNERS (2009)

ENJOY YOUR BODY
ARTIST`````VARIOUS
ALBUM`````SOUNDTRACK FOR NAKED RUNNERS
GENRE`````FUNK, JAZZ, NERDY, INSTRUMENTAL, RETRO, TRIPPY
YEAR````````2009
BLEEDING PANDA COMPILATION!

WHAT?
Some anonymous user here posed a challenge with a theme of naked running (he or she wanted it to be with some water sprinkles or something) but this name seemed a bit shorter and simpler. Also, someone criticized him/her for that, but I thought it was a ridiculous idea that should be definitely done. As it turned out, this is one of my catchiest compilations, but feel free to criticize it.

Now, it's filled with french perverse 70's LSD funk, some monstrous jazz + samba flipouts, several cult and very influental songs mixed with ridicule of The Beatles and the non-existent hippie-parody Dewey Cox himself.

This small collection went through some big changes over time. At first, I made it the most obvious way - indie experiments with japanese and NY noise bands (OOIOO, Optimo, Pullsallama etc.) but that was simply to simple, raw and it was'nt "romantic" and humorous enough. So I basically shifted entirely from that direction into sex, retro, french, jazz, kinky, ridiculous direction and tried to make a sort of a "soundtrack" that is not that tough at rhythm but more into the freedom loving atmosphere of the swinging sex organs .

Standout tracks, and maybe tracks that make this comp a must have (for those who never heard them before) are definitely: the gorgeous and life-fulfiling, jamming Andrew Bird's Coney Island Shuffle, Janko Nilovic's by far the best composition Xenos Cosmos from 1972 (the last 1 minute of the song is golden and the rest of his work is mostly crap), magickal Senor Coconut's - Rydeen, of course Serge Gainsbourg's cult classic Bonnie and Clyde, Sohail Rana's Soul Sitar - a perverse take on bollywood humour (Guys from Ninja Tune label had lots of fun remixing this gem) and the infinite Piggies - spitting humour from The Beatles. Also, I should mention Marsha Hunt with her nipple shaking (Oh No! Not) The Beast Day, a strangely missed groovy 70's funk club hit.

Enjoy this comp, leave a comment and maybe some ideas, links, whatever. I am always looking for new material to fuse.

TRACKLIST:
01 Medeski Martin & Wood - Pat A Cake (2008)
02 RJD2 - 1976
03 The Pinker Tones - L'Heros (2006)
04 Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde
05 Georges Garvarentz - Nues Dans L'eau (1970)
06 Sohail Rana - Soul Sitar (1970)
07 Marsha Hunt - The Beast Day (1973)
08 Paul McCartney - Coming Up (Thumbs Aloft Edit 2007) M
09 The Mystic Moods - Honey Trippin' (1975)
10 The Delfonics - Funny Feeling (1971)
11 Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina M
12 Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - Coney Island Shuffle (1999)
13 The Beatles - Piggies (1968)
14 Walk Hard The Dewey Cox Story - Black Sheep (2007)
15 Der Dritte Raum - Swing Bop B (2008)
16 Senor Coconut and His Orchestra - Rydeen (2008)
17 G. Bordonneau & DJ BNX - Ultra Bossa (2000)
18 Janko Nilovic - Xenos Cosmos (1972)
19 Funkadelic - Can You Get To That (1971)

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STUDIO - YEARBOOK 1 (2007)

HUGE FIELDS OF POSSIBILITY
ARTIST`````STUDIO
ALBUM`````YEARBOOK 1
GENRE`````EXPERIMENTAL, ELECTRONICA, FUSION
YEAR````````2007

WHY:
Much has been said about this album but I've decided to post it anyway since it's a must listen for all who missed it in 2007.

A gorgeous pice of effort from Sweden.

ALBUM REVIEW: (pitchfork)
Never put stock in MySpace genre tags, but the page for Sweden's Studio says "Experimental/Afro-beat/Pop" and that's a decent start. It's vague enough for almost anything to happen, but with one specific reference point that pushes expectations in an interesting direction. The band consists of just two people, Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg, though they do a nice job of sounding much bigger.

A lot happens in 70 minutes, as Studio basically functions in two modes. Much of the time they work in long form, winding melodic guitar lines around a core of clean, hypnotic rhythm. During these tracks they explore the trance-inducing repetition of Manuel Göttsching and gossamer lyricism of Durutti Column, and underpin the development with rhythms that allude to Can or the exotic tinge of Bill Laswell's Sacred System. Hard to say exactly how serious the "Afro-beat" mention on the MySpace page is, but it's not hard to hear the folding-in-on-itself quality of King Sunny Ade's guitar in something like the 13-minute "Life's a Beach!". There's even a hint of Nordic space disco in the reserved, easy funkiness of the gently modulating instrumental "Radio Edit".

As an album, it's long and all over the place, but somehow tight and disciplined; it feels like one unit working through various ideas and finding new ways for them to hang together. Subtle humor, both in the music and presentation, also helps keep the record afloat. All titles are in English but they're delivered with a playful twist. "West Side" alludes to Studio's hometown of Gothenburg, located on Sweden's left shore. "Life's a Beach!" is hopelessly goofy, but the music behind it is astonishing.

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ANDREW BIRD'S - OH THE GRANDEUR (1999)

HOT FUSION.
ARTIST`````ANDREW BIRD'S BOWL OF FIRE
ALBUM`````OH! THE GRANDEUR
GENRE`````RETRO SWING, ADULT
YEAR````````1999

ALBUM INFO:
Andrew Bird's second album Oh! The Grandeur reunites him with his Bowl of Fire counterparts, as well as some special collaborators like the Squirrel Nut Zippers' James Mathus. Recorded in New Orleans, the album builds on the hot jazz/Brecht vibe that Bowl of Fire pioneered on their first album Thrills, but focuses more on Bird's witty lyrics and deadpan delivery, as tracks like "Tea & Thorazine" and "The Idiot's Genius" display. Musically, Oh! The Grandeur keeps the live, one-take feeling of its predecessor, and Bird's fiddle playing is as expressive as ever.

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ETHIOPIQUES - BLEEDING ETHIOPIA (2009)

MOST IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL MUSIC FROM ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AFRICAN COUNTRIES
ARTIST`````VARIOUS
ALBUM`````ETHIOPIQUES - BLEEDING ETHIOPIA
GENRE`````JAZZ, FUNK, FUSION, R&B, TIGRIRNA MUSIC,
YEAR````````2009
COMPILATION BY BLEEDING PANDA

WHY?
This is one of my dearest compilations. It contains a personal selection from a 23 disc set of Ethiopian urban/funk/jazz/tigrirna music, mostly from the 60's and 70's.

Passage from "Haile's got a brand new bag" by Robin Denselow
Ethiopian music is very different from other African styles, perhaps because the country itself, with its long embrace of Christianity and no experience of western colonialism (though the Italians did invade the country in the second world war), has had such a different history. Musically, it has never been influenced by Cuban or other Latin styles, unlike west Africa. Instead, Ethiopian musicians looked to their own traditional music and to black America - a combination that came together in the extraordinary experiments of the 60s, when they created their gloriously distinctive fusion of local styles with American R&B, funk and free-form jazz.

INFO ABOUT THE SERIES:
Ethiopiques is a series of CD's featuring Ethiopian and Eritrean singers and musicians. Many of the Ethiopiques CDs compile various singles and albums that Amha Records, Kaifa Records, and Philips-Ethiopia released during the 1960s and 1970s in Ethiopia. Prominent singers and musicians from this era appearing on Ethiopiques releases include Alemayehu Eshete, Asnaketch Worku, Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, and Tilahun Gessesse. However, some Ethiopiques releases are new recordings.

The Paris-based world music record label Buda Musique began the Ethiopiques series in 1997 and initially compiled Ethiopian popular music releases from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the subsequent CDs focus on traditional music, while others highlight individual musicians or specific styles. As of September 2007, there have been 23 releases. None of the CDs feature today's synthesizer-based Ethiopian pop music. Francis Falceto is the editor of the series.

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MORPHINE - CURE FOR PAIN (1993)

CUTTING EDGE INDIE ALBUM FROM THE 90'S
ARTIST`````MORPHINE
ALBUM`````CURE FOR PAIN
GENRE`````ALTERNATIVE ROCK-POP
YEAR````````1993

ALBUM REVIEW (by Greg Prato):
With their cult following growing, Morphine expanded their audience even further with their exceptional 1994 sophomore effort, Cure for Pain. Whereas their debut, Good, was intriguing yet not entirely consistent, Cure for Pain more than delivered. The songwriting was stronger and more succinct this time around, while new drummer Billy Conway made his recording debut with the trio (replacing Jerome Deupree). Like the debut, most of the material shifts between depressed and upbeat, with a few cacophonic rockers thrown in between. Such selections as "Buena," "I'm Free Now," "All Wrong," "Candy," "Thursday," "In Spite of Me" (one of the few tracks to contain six-string guitar), "Let's Take a Trip Together," "Sheila," and the title track are all certifiable Morphine classics. And again, Mark Sandman's two-string slide bass and Dana Colley's sax work help create impressive atmospherics throughout the album. Cure for Pain was unquestionably one of the best and most cutting-edge rock releases of the '90s.

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V.A MONSTRUOSO INSTRUMENTALE! VOL. 01 (2009)

BULLSHITTO! FARTE! WHATEVERE! INSTRUMENTALLES!
ARTIST`````VARIOUS
ALBUM`````MONSTRUOSO INSTRUMENTALE!
GENRE`````INSTRUMENTAL
YEAR````````2008
BLEEDING PANDA COMPILATION! COVER DESIGN BY PANDA STUFFER.

WHAT?
This is a 16 track long collection of some of my favorite blasting instrumental songs. Generally, as the cover says, this collection has no meaning, has no intellectual value whatsoever and is pretty much a bunch of cult songs mixed with stupid cover versions (like Britney Spears Toxic cover) and interesting experiments along with kitsch trash Moog shitties that are fused together only by the fact that they all have balls and a clear tough attitude.
It spans decades - from 70's detective funk to new unexplainable experimental productions, and spans all continents and cultural influences.

All critiques and comments are very welcome. Also, I am preparing Vol. 02 so all your anarchical recommendations are very welcome.

And a Happy New Thingy to all of you:)

TRACKLIST:
01 Barry de Vorzon - Theme from The Warriors
02 Dennis Coffey - Scorpio (Alpha Omega)
03 Donald Byrd - One Gun Salute
04 Roger Davy - Crazy Flute Happy Guitar
05 Gert Wilden & Orchestra - Follow Me
06 Astro Can Caravan - Baia
07 Fuka Vicente -Tempura Soul
08 Mustafa Ozkent - Dolana Dolana
09 Ananda Shankar - Jungle King
10 Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Toxic
11 Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited - Korla Rides Again
12 Aavikko - Cipetown
13 The Treblemakers - Freakshow
14 Secret Chiefs 3 - Jabalqa
15 Alamaailman Vasarat - Käärme toi ruton kaupunkiin
16 A Hawk And A Hacksaw - Zozobra

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CALEXICO - SONIC WINDS (2008)

SPAGHETTI TRAGEDY
ARTIST`````CALEXICO
ALBUM`````SONIC WINDS
GENRE`````AMERICANA, INDIE, ALTERNATIVE, EXPERIMENTAL
YEAR````````2008
NOT AN OFFICIAL COMPILATION!

WHY:
Many people are annoyed by Calexico on different levels and I can understand why. The singer is acctualy whispering most of the times because he sucks when he tries to sing with a full voice. They mostly sound really, really bad on live performances.Their music is mostly pure atmo-emo esthetics and their lyrics can sometimes be quite crappy.
But somehow I stayed with them for 5 years, mingling inside their spaghetti eclectic discography, always finding several gems on each album they published. I was always amazed by the fact that every time I listened to any of their albums I completely hated some songs while adoring 2, 3 tracks that blasted my mind.

If a band can play a spectacularly sad guitar solo like the one on "El Morro", create an apocalyptic song like "Humano" or make a good song like "Sonic Wind" - all of their other songs can be pure crap as far as I a concerned. I'll always listen to every new album they publish.

Here is my selection (my best of) of the often crappy often brilliant band Calexico.

TRACKLIST:
01 - Ritual Road Map
02 - Frontera
03 - The Ride (pt.II)
04 - All the Pretty Horses
05 - Two Silver Trees
06 - Sonic Wind
07 - Gipsy's Curse
08 - El Morro
09 - Dead Man's Will
10 - The Black Light
11 - Pepito
12 - Close Behind
13 - Clothes of Sand
14 - Humano (instrumental)
15 - Gift X-change
16 - Fade
17 - Woven Birds
18 - Over Your Shoulder
19 - Burn That Broken Bed
20 - Wash
21 - Glowing Heart Of The World

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PRINCE - BLEEDING JAZZ (2008)

UNDERNEATH THE MTV AWARDS
ARTIST`````PRINCE
ALBUM`````BLEEDING JAZZ
GENRE`````JAZZ, FUNK, PSY
YEAR````````2008
NOT AN OFFICIAL COMPILATION!

WHY:
Common music listeners very often accuse Prince of being "dance commercial crap pop with a couple of super-cool funky songs guy in tight green pants and a girly voice". They are most likely to link Prince to his occasional MTv top 10 blockbuster hits and dismiss him out of pure ignorance. Even the fact that some respectable music institutions acknowledge him as being the greatest pop male artist since Elvis fucking Presley, doesnt even bother people who just cant get over his looks, his open obsession with sex and his green leather tight pants and his skinny little twirly ass.

There is an entire dimension of Prince's career mostly known to his music aficionados and generaly music-obsessed people like me. So I've decided to make a 10 track long compilation of some of his jazz and psych-funk oriented songs which are less known to the general public. My apologies to hardcore fans - I havent included many of his experiments in an effort to make this compilation sound as coherent as possible.
Enjoy yet another side of Prince's universe.

TRACKLIST:
01 Prince - North
02 Prince - Osaka
03 Prince - Xhalation
04 Prince - Rainbow Children
05 Prince - When the Lights Go Down
06 Prince - Hallucination Rain
07 Prince - Xogenous
08 Prince - Xcogitate
09 Prince - Tokyo
10 Prince - West

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DR. JOHN - GRIS-GRIS (1968)

HIPPIE, VOODOO, PSYCH, MARDI GRAS, TRIBAL, HIGH NIGHT TRIPPIN' OF THE LATE 60's
ARTIST`````DR. JOHN
ALBUM`````GRIS-GRIS
GENRE`````PSYCHEDELIC, FUNK, ROCK N' ROLL, DRUGS?
YEAR````````1968

WHY:
This guy was something special in the late sixties. His debut album (Gris-gris) is quite an exploration of R&B blended in primitive voodoo aesthetics and coloured by some strange mystic/psych elements that I can't recognise. A very unique artist indeed. Lots of drugs involved too. Lots.

AN UNSUALY SHORT REVIEW FROM ALLMUSIC:
The most exploratory and psychedelic outing of Dr. John's career, a one-of-a-kind fusion of New Orleans Mardi Gras R&B and voodoo mysticism. Great rasping, bluesy vocals, soulful backup singers, and eerie melodies on flute, sax, and clarinet, as well as odd Middle Eastern-like chanting and mandolin runs. It's got the setting of a strange religious ritual, but the mood is far more joyous than solemn.

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V.A. BLEEDING AFRICA (2008)

40 TRACKS FROM THE WORLD'S MOST DIVERSE CONTINENT
ARTIST`````VARIOUS
ALBUM`````BLEEDING AFRICA
GENRE`````WORLD, FUSION, FUNK, POP, TRADITIONAL, FIELD RECORDING
YEAR````````2008

WHAT?
I made this compilation for the cocktail after-party of the opening of the African museum in my hometown. My first ever 40 tracks long compilation of various popular and forgotten African performers, spanning the entire continent, from popular 70's kitch tunes over some hot funk and senegalese pop to more traditional and tribal standards. I am hardly an expert in african music but I just had to use my huge library of albums I collected in recent years and try to make a solid compilation so criticism is welcome.

The most important song here is definetly "Mbube" by Solomon Linda (South Africa, Zulu tribe) who wrote this gorgeous accapela in 1939 and later had to sell the rights to Gallo Record Company for 10 shillings (less than $US 2). Over the decades this song was ripped, abused and destroyed beyond any reason but Solomon Linda never recieved any credit and died a poor man's death during the apartheid in South Africa. Its most famous "version" is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which we all know. The song had earned US $15 million for its use in The Lion King alone and who knows how much more when decades of rights abuse are combined. It took 18 years to erect a decent toombstone on Solomon Linda's grave.

You can read more on Solomon Linda here.

TRACKLIST:
01 Mahotella Queens - Thina Siyakhanyisa
02 T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou - Hwe Towe Hun
03 Hewale Sounds - Kalabule (Hewale Sounds-Ghana)
04 Dark City Sisters - Langa More
05 Orchestra Makassy - Mambo Bado (Orchestra Makassy)
06 Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestroes - Dododo
07 Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds - Mbube
08 Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck - Loodo
09 Boubacar Traoré - Bebe Bo Nadero
10 Boubacar Traoré - Mali Twist
11 Habib Koite & Bamada - Barra
12 Abagqomi - Bakhuzeni
13 Burundi Traditional Musicians - Chant de femmes
14 Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Nomathemba
15 Hewale Sounds - Kpanlogo (Hewale Sounds-Ghana)
16 Mapumba - Mwafwako
17 Ebo Taylor - Heaven (Ghana)
18 Marijata - Mother Africa (Ghana)
19 Ray Lema & Tyour Gnaoua - Mimouna
20 Youssou N'dour - Letter
21 Armand Frydman & Dennis Hekimian - Ewondo
22 Franco - Finga Mama Munu
23 Camille Feruz - Cha Cha Cha Bay
24 Kokanko Sata - Be Ni DJigui
25 Kokanko Sata - Tie Farin Shiw
26 Yoruba Tribe - Drums From Benin
27 Kenya & Tanzania Ritual Music - Coconut Picklers Song
28 Orchestra Baobab - Mouhamadou Bamba
29 Ifeanyi Eddie Okwedy - Happy Survival
30 Oumou Sangare - Kun Fè Ko
31 Oumou Sangare - N'Guatu
32 Morikeba Kouyate - Landing Majang (Instrumental)
33 Samburu Warriors' initiation (Kenya) - Ceremonial Music
34 Seleshe Damassae - Hoya Hoya
35 Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Smile
36 Tata Dinding Jobarteh - Bitillo
37 Assane Ndiaye & Le Raam Daan - Nguisstal
38 Kosinus - Tambacounda
39 Vieux Diop - Sutu Kun
40 Wagogo Marriage Ritual (Tanzania) - Ceremonial Music


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