Around The World In 80 Or So Days

[Repo]

You're a machine, Hayden! It will take the rest of my life to go through this thread of yours. lol.

[Hayden]

[Hayden]

How Sad, How Lovely by Connie Converse

From: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Music’s Sylvia Plath, Connie Converse was the Bob Dylan that never was. Clocking it at being missing for over 43 years, Connie would be 93 if she’s still alive. This comp (which truly plays out as an album), her 38-ish minute long body of (sometimes unfinished) material recorded during the 50’s, released in 2009, is phenomenal folk music at least a decade ahead of its time. This isn’t happy music by any means, rather it’s crisp and to the point, but always with a whiff of whimsy. I feel like she’s as American as it gets. To boot, the title track is beautiful. Hoping to pick it up on vinyl at some point.


African Gnaoua Blues by Majid Bekkas

From: MOROCCO

What is ‘gnaoua blues’ you ask? Well, I believe Majid Bekkas made it up, for I can’t find anything about it. I wish it would’ve caught on though, cause this is some pretty dope stuff. Think blues guitar work done on a guembri (well, don’t think that, give it a listen and hear it, cause that’s what it is).


The Ghetto by Paul Ngozi

From: ZAMBIA

Zambian psych.


Asseer Zulf by Zaman Shawqi

From: AFGHANISTAN

*somebody somewhere picks up a dusty Afghani cassette tape from an unknown era and unknown pretty much everything else, posts in online, and at some point I find myself listening to it and it’s pretty insufferably repetitive (yet luckily I didn’t expect anything better)*

Didn’t actually finish it… only gave about 5 minutes of each track a chance (could make for some cool samples though, dunno, and it’s def super traditional).


Melodrama by Lorde

From: NEW ZEALAND

Now, I don’t know what it is with New Zealand, for I’ve never found myself overly infatuated with the music from there. I keep giving indie bands a shot (The Chills, The Bats, Chambres, Tall Dwarfs, Break Co-Op, The Clean, The Dead C) , never finding them bad, but nothing really hitting the mark. Roy Montgomery (Dadamah & Hash Jar Tempo) has always been my favourite from the country, but if this radically-opposite-of-Roy-Montomgery-up-and-comer keeps whipping up albums like this, she’ll be more renowned than Lord of The Rings. This is, for me at least, not only a Thriller-rivalling pop record, but unquestionably the most relevant coming-of-age album of the 21st century. I didn’t expect this album at all, and it’s been my most listened of 2017. Thanks Lorde.

[Hayden]

Etcetera by Laghonia

From: PERU

Laghonia are a Peruvian band I’m fairly fond of, they have two pretty good albums (this and Glue) which I play every once in a while. Early 70’s psych with a few twists.


Antichamber by Yannis Kyriakides

From: CYPRUS

In failure to find anything terribly intreguing from Cyprus, I fell back on an album I heard a few years ago and wasn’t too fond of. Still not too fond of it. Tad nonsensical experimental whoknowswhat lacking any cohesiveness. Probably some members here who'll dig it though, so figured I'd share.


The Scientists by The Scientists

From: AUSTRALIA

The Scientists Good ol’ gritty post-punk from down under, some really ace stuff with great energy and fantastic song writing. Cool little gem.


He O Oe Oe! by Puseletso Seema & Tau Ea Linare

From: LESOTHO

Surprisingly, totally different than the music from South Africa released around the same time. Cool group-effort stuff, high energy, fun, yet always collected.


Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records by Jan Jelinek

From: GERMANY

*5 minutes in*… is this… good? What is this? Where am I?

*10 minutes in* Aight, feeling the groove… ish…

*about 20 minutes after the album’s stopped, pondering how*

Loop-finding-jazz-records is one of my favourite discoveries of 2017 without a doubt, influencing my perception of music far more than I could’ve ever imagined. Heavy rec.

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

Glad you liked Jelinek, that's a great one. Have you listened to any of his other albums like, Kosmischer Pitch, or his collaboration last year with Masayoshi Fujita? Not quite as good as this, but still worth a spin when you get a chance.

Also, thanks for bringing Connie Converse, I had forgotten about her, which I feel bad about.

[Hayden]

[Hayden]

Résistance by Songhoy Blues


Ladilikan by Trio Da Kali And Kronos Quartet

From: MALI

Double dose for Mali, both albums from 2017 (a stellar year for music from there). Malian music has always been a favourite of mine, it has a certain cleanliness to it unique within not only African music, but music anywhere. A visceral meaning to every note hit, all so natural yet presicely planned, often minimalism at its best. Helming a roster of Ali Farka Toure, Ballake Sissoko, Tourmani Diabate, Rokia Traore, Tamikrest, Bassekou Kouyate, Tinariwen, and an insane amount of national orchestres, Mali has long since proven an international powerhouse for music, and somewhere I’m always willing to dig something up from (1977 amiright?)

First is an album by Songhoy Blues, which is a complete blast. Blending rock, blues, jazz, highlife and even a bit of hiplife, it’s ridiculously fun and super accessible. Highly recommend for people trying to find an entry point into African music.

Second album from Mali is accompanied by a familiar name, Kronos Quartet. Truly, at its base, it’s not a terribly surprising record, it sounds exactly as you would expect a balafon/sanza/ngoni stringed orchestral arrangement by Kronos to go, and it’s absolutely beautiful. A seamless, yet unexpected, mesh of mande and classical fronted by Hawa Diabate, it’s (in my opinion) one of the year’s best releases, and a perfect example of how exciting and innovative the current music scene in Mali stands today. If you want to give it a taste first, the final 4 tracks are phenomenal.

Also from Mali 2017, check out Awa Poulo’s Poulo Warali, Vieux Farke Toure’s Samba, Luka Production’s Fasokan, Oumou Sangare’s Mogoya, Toumani Diabate & Sidiki Diabate’s Lamomali, and Tinariwen’s Elwan. Possibly the strongest year for Mali this decade, at least 10 great albums.

[Hayden]

Osiris by Osiris

From: BAHRAIN

Psych-prog from Bahrain? Sure, why not. Hadn’t a clue the genre caught on over there in the 70’s. It’s actually aight stuff, very Genesis-esque but with some traditional middle-eastern flavours. As far as prog goes, it’s the kind of prog I dig.


Opus Dei by Laibach

From: SLOVENIA

Despite its praise, I think this album is pretty bad, but that’s just how it is sometimes. Duds happen.


...Like Water by Bun-Ching Lam

From: MACAU

Tad tricky finding something from Macau, Asia… small population… etc… so I went to search on RYM and came up with this. Fairly short bit of classical music, but technically an album. I was a little indesicivie towards it, but it isn’t bad. Whimsical and very film-score-esque.


G H O S T by Tesa

From: LATVIA


Ghetto Vibes by King Short Shirt

From: ANTIGUA & BARBUDA

King Short Shirt, Antiguan, evidently the king of short shirts, is quite capable at putting together a solid calypso record. The sort of thing you want to hear live while drinking an insufferably sweet alcoholic drink on a semi-habited beach. Often filled with politically-charged lyrics, King Short Shirt is quite aware ‘calypso make no money’ and life is confusing, so you might as well be happy for the time being. Hopefully the country will be able to recover one day…

[Hayden]

450 De Oi by Zdob şi Zdub

From: MOLDOVA

This album, whatever it is, has solidified my newfound belief that I will never go to Moldova because I’m scared of their sheep flute accordion middle-eastern yelling spoken-word hip-hop country metal whoknowswhat. Think The Room meets Bollywood + sheep, but an album. This 60-or-so minutes of music is possibly the least sensical and disjointed I have ever heard from anywhere and anypoint from any tracklisting of playlist ever compiled. This is one of those albums that makes you contemplate how bad albums can be… how bad music can be… how bad life can be…


Decorate by Yuna

From: MALAYSIA

A relisten, this is def an underrated album from 2010. Clean, forward thinking, crisp, Yuna’s Decorate is straight-up just a really cool record. I’ve yet to give any of her other (all newer) releases a listen, for I fear they look a smidge too commercial, but this is an excellent example of what indie pop can be.


En Mana Kuoyo by Ayub Ogada

From: KENYA

One of the best.


Do Wah Nanny by Exuma

From: BAHAMAS

Exuma? Exuma. Do Wah Nanny? Do Wah Nanny.


Инструментальный анс... (Firyuza)

From: TURKMENISTAN

*water ripples… pitterpatter of triangle dings… fluttering violin… heartfelt piano… water… triangle… violin… piano… FUNK BASS… wait… wait… birds… there are birds… let’s draw it back a bit, add more soft jazz… aight… okay… some drumline-core snares… LOUD SAXOPHONE, LOUD, BLOW DAT HORN… bass bass bass… water…birds…wind…*

Collage-esque post-Soviet instrumental jazzy prog-funk from Turkmenistan (apparently there was a whole wave of this stuff, checked out a few other albums while I was at it), played by the guys on the cover. It’s beautiful stuff, definitely different. Full stream on Youtube, not need to shell out $700 for a vinyl copy. Also, any hip-hop samplers out there, here’s some gold, like, BIG SHOT gold… I might even whip something up with it myself.

Also, the third track’s got this killer clap-lead break that you gotta hear. If you dig it, check out Рапсодия and Gunesh, two other bands in this movement (Рапсодия’s got an album of straight fire and some killer samples…).

[Hayden]

Slør by Eivör Pálsdóttir

From: FAROE ISLANDS

Unquestionably blending the sounds of Sweden and Iceland, this is a mellow and somber yet high-energy pop record. It’s ballads, but clean hi-fi folk-pop. Think… The xx meet Bjork meet Madonna, or something like that. Sounds pretty much like the cover. She’s been around for awhile, but I figured I’d give one of her newer records a spin (she re-recorded Slor in English earlier this year, but I opted for the original). It’s aight, I could see a couple users here enjoying it. Nothing groundbreaking, and you can tell she’s trying a little too hard, but worth a spin for the acoustics and production. There’s also this one track (Tokuni) that has this small section of production unlike anything that I’ve ever heard before, so that was cool. Unfortunately, for those users fluent in Icelandic, turns out she mainly sings in Faroese (which is apparently a language).


Reet by Reet Hendrikson

From: ESTONIA


Sard by Nizar Rohana

From: PALESTINE (born Israel, based Netherlands)

Finding actual albums from Palestine proved a task, but I feel like this fits the bill. Several lengthy compositions of traditional oud playing, yet they never seem to get boring. Standout: Ya Rayeh Sawb Bladi


OM by Negură Bunget

From: ROMANIA

Fantastic atmospheric black metal, I’ve always dug Negura Bunget. They were actually my gateway into the genre. This is my favourite album of theirs (also the first I heard).


Exile by Geoffrey Oryema

From: UGANDA (based France)

Exile, one of my favourite African folk records. If you haven’t heard of Oryema, maybe the fact that this album was produced by Brian Eno and David Bottrill might get your attention. And some bloke named Peter Gabriel is on it too. Phenomenal record.