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Top 10 August 21 2011
This week I treated my turntables to two fresh new styli, so clearly I had to celebrate by going on a good old fashioned vinyl dig. Found some gems at two of my favorite local record stores, Phonopolis and the hidden (and open a mere 5 hours a week!) treasure chest that is Backroom Records, located in a wee shack above a garage in a Mile End alleyway. Most of my favorite finds from the week were put out by the owner of Backroom, Warren Hill’s amazing Portland-based reissue label, Mississippi Records . Seriously, I’ve been buying as much as I could of their beautifully packaged and eclectic analog-only output since procuring their first comp of obscure folk blues Last Kind Words 1926-1953. You can find Mississippi Records’ output in most conscientious neighborhood vinyl shops, or order online (if you must!) from http://www.forcedexposure.com/labels/mississippi.records.html .
Fred McDowell – The Alan Lomax Recordings 1959 – Mississippi/Domino
These stunning and hypnotic early recordings laid down for author/scholar/ethnomusicological adventurer Alan Lomax by slide virtuoso Fred McDowell are timeless, evocative and totally badass even 50 years after they were recorded.
Dr. John the Night Tripper – Gris-Gris – Atco
This album, Dr.John ’s first in 1968 is so dank you can feel the steamy Louisianan night breeze wafting through every note, the whole thing is chill and shamanic but has a kind of cloistered and spooky candour to it, a proper spiritual gumbo of psych and N’awlins voodoo funk.
Willie Dunn – Willie Dunn – Kot’ai Records
I actually jumped for joy upon finding this incredibly elusive piece of Canadiana wax, Micmac/Metis folk singer Willie Dunn ‘s first album, containing the infamous and bitterly critical “Ballad of Crowfoot”, later to be made into Canada’s first music video by Dunn himself, created at the National Film Board. The other tunes on this awesome record are strident folk/country tales of First Nations history and never ending colonialization struggle, the horrific Residential Schools told through the heartbreaking “Charlie Wenjack”, or the Lightfoot-ian stridency of his plainte “I Pity The Country”. In this era of rampant reissues, this frozen moment of mature protestation folk songwriting deserves to be venerated as such.
Hadrami Ould Medeh – Kalmat – Mississippi/Sahel
This sweet little 7” originally existed in 500 copies, originally pressed in Lebanon. Hadrami Ould Medeh is a Mauritian guitarist and singer and this is some deep wah-psych blending over mellifluous arabic percussion and throbbing backbeat just owns. I could listen to this for hours!
Dead Moon – In The Graveyard – Mississippi/Tombstone
Lofi garage punk legends Fred and Toody Cole are still churning out unique rough-hewn rockers ( now as Pierced Arrows) and it’s totally stoke-worthy that Mississippi has reissued all their back catalogue (as well as their prior incarnation The Rats ). Aside from a downright terrible cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, every tune is a scorcher, some of my faves being the lead off track “Graveyard” and the stellar “Parchment Farm”.
V/A – It Came From Canada Vol 1- Og
The first in a series of very influential 80’s comps of garage, psych and punk wierdness that existed on the fringe of Canada’s mostly horrific musical output of the 80s (fucking Loverboy ? Glass Tiger , anyone? Jeezus.) This comp connected a whole nation of fucked up bands, who were (and are still) separated by geographical expanse and desolation that our American neighbors couldn’t possibly relate to. Og records was started and maintained by the dudes behind Montreal swampabilly legends Deja Voodoo, who are amply represented here alongside such unique and diverse freaks such as The Gruesomes, Jerry Jerry and The Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, My Dog Popper, Terminal Sunglasses and Ray Condo & his Hardrock Goners. This stuff stands up so well, and should makes us Canucks damn proud that this came out in a pretty bereft era in Can-rock.
Marks and Lebzelter – Rock and Other Four Letter Words – Columbia
I’m almost rendered speechless at how warped this psychedelic venture from 68 is. Some sort of fascinating train-wreck of Stockhausen-lite, some pretty rad psych jamming, eye-wateringly out of tune vocals, and radiophonic pastiched tape samples of rock stars spouting pseudo-profundities. Wow, it’s almost too much, the layers of effects and Lumpy Gravy-esque cutups smashing into prog jams and meandering soundscapes and textual psychobabble. It’s nuts. I can’t imagine who would will a mess like this into existence, but I’m glad they did because their acid-damaged maniac moment in the 60s is now our total incredulous entertainment.
V/A – Street Musicians of Yogyakarta – Mississippi
What a generous abundance of music is this stunning comp of Javanese street musicians recorded in Indonesia in the late 70s. Aside from being of fantastic quality for a field recording, it’s so diverse and magical and a nice diversion from the more well known gamelan music of the region. Including an exhaustively descriptive booklet and a bonus 7”, the songs performed by buskers in the markets of Yogyakarta are each diamonds, the pathos and heart in the music needing no contextualization or translation.
Clyde McPhatter – Rock & Roll – Atlantic
Formerly of The Dominos and later known for his singing with The Drifters, this record has all of the original R & B hits, like “Money Honey” “Such A Night” and “Thirty Days”. Killer voice and that raw, transitional sound of R & B just before it coalesced into R’nR.
Krewe of Eris – Krewe of Eris – Domino
Interesting street recording of a 62 piece brass Krewe from NOLA who are also infamous as an unlicensed, unsanctioned, shit-disturbing parade that happens round carnival season. This year the NOPD cops beat the living snot out of some of the participants of the parade, the brutality well documented online. It’s awesome that a vinyl exists documenting a 2008 parade, even ending the record with a cacophony of cop sirens. Clearly those pigs have never seen the fnords. Love em or hate em, just remember: King Kong died for your sins! Hail Discordia!
