It didn’t take long for Muhsinah to find an audience among committed music fans. Her lo-fi/hip-hop self produced “day.break 2.0” record has been in pretty constant rotation in my playlist as of late, and deserves greater attention. She has just released a new single (produced by Flying Lotus) from her full length “The Oscillations: Triangle.” Here is a song from “day.break 2.0”
It has been awhile since I dug into the old Jazz vault here at Some Lost, Some Found. It was high time that I posted some tracks from the great Jazz guitarist Eddie Lang and violin virtuoso Joe Venuti. Both men had long careers in the music biz, and had a great influence on a number of later greats. Lang played alongside some of the biggest names of the 20s and 30s (like Paul Whiteman and Bring Crosby), and his innovative guitar playing would later have an impact on Django Reinhardt. Venuti was born on a boat to America by his Italian immigrant parents, and also shared a stage with Whiteman and whose style found its way into Reinhardt’s 30s and 40s work.
JSP Records has re-released a large number of the two men's combined performances (You can pick up a 4 disc box set for less than 25 dollars, which spans almost 10 years of their career). These recordings have always reminded me warm sunny days sitting in the yard, having a BBQ, and enjoying a nice cool drink. Essential seasonal music.
Tina Kaffeyah is a little rock band from Philadelphia that recently sent their new EP to us, asking if we would have a listen. They also said that they would allow us to have their baby if we reviewed it, and since I don’t have any known offspring, I figured I would take them up on their offer. I look forward to the insemination process!
As for the EP, it is good. Very good. It’s entirely instrumental, and the band crunches through four tracks of riff heavy post-hardcore. The songs on this record bring back memories of Baltimore’s Oxes, although I don’t know if that’s what these guys were intending. The band experiments with the formula enough to keep you interested: on “Why did I Drink that Colt 45?” they play with time changes and empty silence, until they finish off the track with a pulverizing set of chords. The end the EP with “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice things,” a track that clocks in at over 11 minutes but doesn’t get tired or overly repetitive.
If these cats would have been playing in the Bay Area in the late 90s, they would have been huge. Well, at least with kids who listened to hardcore. The band gets extra points for reminding me why I fell in love with this kind of stuff to begin with. Hopefully they find a home with a label that will treat them right.
I was saddened to hear from comrade Jams that Lhasa de Sela, a respected Mexican-American singer-songwriter passed away at the young age of 37 this winter. She died of breast cancer in her Montreal home on January 1st, 2010.
Lhasa released three full length records in her short career, but she lived a full and adventurous life. Her website writes “Lhasa's unusual childhood was marked by long periods of nomadic wandering through Mexico and the U.S., with her parents and sisters in the school bus which was their home. During this period the children improvised, both theatrically and musically, performing for their parents on a nightly basis. Lhasa grew up in a world imbued with artistic discovery, far from conventional culture. An old friend of Lhasa's, Jules Beckman, offered these words:
"We have always heard something ancestral coming through her. She has always spoken from the threshold between the worlds, outside of time. She has always sung of human tragedy and triumph, estrangement and seeking with a Witness's wisdom. She has placed her life at the feet of the Unseen."”
Her music surely demonstrated an incredible level of creativity, and her inspired songs garnered popularity worldwide.
Here are two tracks from her first record, “La Llorona.” You can buy her records here.
Korea’s music scene has always played second (or third) fiddle to Japan’s forward minded music culture. Most non-traditional Korean music simply mimicked American or Japanese sensibilities following the Korean War, but that doesn’t mean there have not been standout musicians from the Hermit Kingdom.
Enter Kim Jung Mi, an acid-rock singer from the 1970s. Anyone who is familiar with Korean pop music will either recognize her vocals or the manner in which she sang them; in my mind her delivery is quintessential Korean 70s.
Jung Mi worked with Korean fuzz pioneer Shin Jung Hyun (신중현), who gave her recordings the echoey, psychedelic feel. When Park Chung Hee was dictator of South Korea, some Shin Jung’s songs were banned as "vulgar" or "noisy", and in August 1975, he was arrested for "involvement" with marijuana. Lord knows what “involvement” with marijuana meant, but thankfully both Jung Mi and Shin Jung have found an audience since their peak, and have left some strong records in their wake, as well as made positive contributions to the local Korean music scene.
Here are a few tracks from Jung Mi’s excellent album, “Now.” The excellent imprint World Psychedelia has reissued some of her finer records for western audiences, and can be purchased at Dusted Groove Records. Unfortunately, “Now” is currently out of print, but you can download it at Mutant Sounds.
At this point I'm switching gears and moving into my other musical tastes. For those who like the hard stuff, please be patient, I'll get back to it eventually. In the meantime, here is my first jazz post.
This is a classic album. In case you don't know anything about George Duke, a good friend of mine told me Duke had an aversion to synthesizers and was strictly a piano and Rhodes man before he hooked up with Frank Zappa. After spending some time in Zappa's band, he began to embrace the fusion sound that was so influential in jazz during the 1970s. So this is a serious departure from the smooth jazz Duke would be known for later in his career.
I know what you're thinking, fusion jazz = weak jazz. But there is a lot of good fusion out there if you are selective. Have a listen to see what I mean. I like all the tracks but my favorite is "Psychocomatic Dung." And if you dig this album, check out some of the other material on MPS Records.
Track List: 1. The Opening 2. Capricorn 3. Piano Solo 1 and 2 4. Psychocomatic Dung 5. Faces in Reflection No. 1 6. Maria Tres Filhos 7. North Beach 8. Da Somba 9. Faces in Reflection No. 2.
This blog is a place to share music both new and old. We will also review records of the physical and digital variety. Each post will have streaming audio and/or links to mp3s managed by the group or record label, as well as the location to buy the stuff.
It goes without saying that we don't make a cent off of anything we link to on the site. We also don't intend to upset the creators of these tunes, so if you own the copyright to anything found here and want it removed, please contact Roland at rolanddodds(at)gmail.com.
