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This free download of Manzanita's "Agua" is taken from the second installment of Barbes Records' highly-acclaimed Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru series. Over the course of these 16 tracks recorded between 1968 and '81, we find early Cuban-influenced groups as well as later bands playing in more of an Andean style, which would soon define chicha. Once associated by most Peruvians as being the sound of the Lima slums, a new generation has embraced this music and today it's experiencing a bona fide revival, all around the globe.
Free download of "Before and After Light," off of CFCF's new EP The River, out now on RVNG Intl. Inspired by Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, this young Montreal producer's cinematic soundscapes travel in more nuanced and slightly darker territories than Continent, his debut full-length from last year, moving from the ghostly, Eno-esque ambience of this featured download to moments that recall Popul Vuh. An excellent set with bonus remixes from Jacques Renault, Games (a/k/a Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin) and Joel Ford (Tiger City). This Week's Featured Downloads Brazilian songwriter and musical trickster Tom Ze completes his Estudando album trilogy -- 30-plus years in the making -- with his newest record, which may just be one of his best yet in a long and consistently innovative career. After 1976's Estudando O Samba and 2006's Estudando O Pagode, Ze focuses his studies and his cubist songforms on what has become Brazil's most widely recognized and most highly commodified musical exports: the bossa nova. As playful and "wacky" as people tend to make Ze's music appear over the years, he has openly confessed to its roots in tradition, and this record is no different; these songs all feature that soft but solid bossa guitar backbone anchoring his most outre creative impulses, which overflow with chorus vocals, wry and referential onomatopoeiac wordplay, and even the odd assortment of musique concrete-inspired plundered sounds added to the rhythmic and textural palette. The bossa form lets Ze soften some of the more jagged, jarring tendencies of his songwriting, and it works quite well -- the album retains that "cool," mellow vibe so often associated with the genre, but never settles into the sort of smooth antiseptic cleanliness to which modern bossa so often falls prey. Many songs also see Ze duetting with a bevy of contemporary Brazilian songstresses, and one Mr. David Byrne, the man who first made Ze Luaka Bop's first artist signing back in the early/mid-1990s. Their duet on "Outra Insensatz, Poe!" is a highlight on an album that's filled with them. If you've been a longtime fan of Ze's work (as I have), this record will most likely thrill you with its soft-spoken complexity and pure rhythmic bliss; if you're new to Ze, this is one of the best places to dive in, next to Luaka Bop's Massive Hits collection, which is essentially an expanded version of the Estudando O Samba album. Estudando A Bossa effectively takes the bossa nova and throws it into Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, where it dances softly beyond the looking glass, refracted by one of Brazil's longest running musical geniuses. This record gets my absolute highest recommendation, and is a strong contender to top my list of the best albums of the year. -Mikey IQ Jones
The great diggers at Jazzman follow up their collection of Sun Ra 7" singles with this compilation of six tracks from Philip Cohran, all originally released on Cohran's Zulu label as limited pressed 45s. To some, this trumpeter's cult status comes from his association with the legendary cosmic jazzman -- a member of Ra's Arkestra during the early 1960s, he can be heard on great albums like Interstellar Low Ways and Angels and Demons at Play. After returning to Earth, Cohran then helped in the formation of the AACM and later started his own collectives, the Afro-Arts Theatre and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble. Though skilled on many instruments, Cohran's kalimba -- an amplified thumb piano he renamed the Frankiphone -- was his signature and is certainly prevalent in these recordings. A deep spiritualness emanates from the multitude of percussion instruments which create a heavy, interlocking funk, and as with Sun Ra, Cohran's brand of jazz is rooted in the rhythmic vibrations of Africa. Unlike his former leader, however, things stay earthy and organic, and while transcendent, never get spacey. These are rare sides from one of jazz music's true underdogs. If you don't know his name and you even casually like jazz, you should open yourself to the wealth of good vibrations that Philip Cohran can conjure. -Daniel Givens
Since its debut release in 2005, a 12" from the London-based synth duo Oppenheimer Analysis, the Minimal Wave label has been at the forefront of reissuing lost and obscure synth records from the early '80s. And thanks in part to that record's dancefloor filler "The Devil's Dancers," which became something of a cult hit, and of course the other incredible gems that they've managed to unearth since, Minimal Wave has become one of the finest boutique labels in recent memory. Currently undergoing its third pressing, the Oppenheimer Analysis 12" was only a sampler of material from New Mexico, a limited edition cassette originally released in 1982. While those tracks have floated around the Internet for some time, Minimal Wave has remastered and reissued the entire album in mp3 format, and it sounds incredible -- crisp and clear while retaining its icy, detached sound. New Mexico really is synth pop at its finest: cold rhythms, bubbly synths and smart lyrics (most of which deal with the atom bomb) sung by Andy Oppenheimer, who has one of the most sincere and elegiac voices of the '80s. It's a shame New Mexico was released in such limited quantities when it first appeared, as it truly ranks up there with Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell and the Human League's Dare. Highly recommended! -Chris Pappas
Following CMYK, his breakout release for the R&S label, Londoner James Blake continues to travel the short and sweet path with another stellar EP. One of the most consistent and satisfying talents amongst a current crop of UK producers which includes Actress, Burial and Mount Kimbie, Blake is making a slow and steady ascent to the top of that list. The four tracks on Klavierwerke not only display his sense of melody and restraint but they're also great examples of his mature, unique approach to minimalist dance music. A classically trained pianist, Blake's rich and open terrain is sculpted from scratchy electronic pulses, distant clicks, fading piano lines, clipped vocal samples (including his own voice), and hazy atmosphere. Beautifully emotional and patient, his tracks never seem to be in a rush to dazzle or attack the listener, instead he reaches out to the deeply felt place inside the hearts of his audience, where emotions are buried yet cry to be released. Like tears, his tickling percussion and clear sonic choices evoke a sense of yearning, being both filled with joy and sorrow. And his choice of working in the short EP format (all his vinyl/digital-only releases last less than twenty minutes) allows him to create concise and immediate works that aim straight for the heart. A bright star on the horizon for the coming year, James Blake so far has done no wrong, while continuing to create music that dares to be easily categorized. -Daniel Givens
Manchester's Dislocation Dance came about during the rise of the arty DIY punk movement of the early '80s. Their first recordings -- one of which, "It's So Difficult," was anthologized on a Messthetics compilation -- were shambly, discordant pop songs in the vein of early Scritti Politti or Desperate Bicycles and are completely awesome. While a couple of pretty excellent records for the famed New Hormones label followed, Dislocation Dance ended on a fairly sour note with some overproduced new wave schlock -- that album, Midnight Shift recorded for Rough Trade in 1983, has always been a disappointment for me; the crystal clear production really ruined the band's whole jazzy lo-fi bossa-lounge brand of post-punk that made them so endearing in the first place. Then comes Airwaves, a collection of this later-period material (as well as tracks from their '81 released Music Music Music) recorded for a radio session. It completely redeems Dislocation Dance and shows that they sounded best when they were left a little rough around the edges. Underneath all the glossy production of Midnight Shift is some catchy-as-hell nerd pop that would have fit perfectly on the Crepuscule or Postcard labels (a cross between Antena and Orange Juice might be a fitting description for the sound here). Be warned: Dislocation Dance do use a lot of horns, which might turn some people off, but if you're into bands like Ludus, Weekend, Aztec Camera or any of the aforementioned groups or labels, you're going to love this. -Chris Pappas |
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