Around The World In 80 Or So Days

[Hayden]

Continuum by Paul Jebanasam

From: SRI LANKA (based UK)

Textural ambient, very pretty, very rough, confusing track titles, not John Mayer, etc…
I’m not sure how this could have possibly been made, but it’s pretty great. Recommend to play loud, dive in. Electricity, the ocean, the wind, sound itself… Fall apart, implode, crumble, rebuild…


The Last Recording Of Soloist National ...er Volcano

From: TANZANIA

No, not Freddie Mercury, but this is still pretty solid stuff.


Moonface by Likantropika

From: ANDORRA

Wasn’t Avatar great? Dunno why, but BEA doesn’t have Andorra’s flag installed. Anywho, kinda downtempo IDM album, little bellow average, dunno if I’d rec… just lacks a little oomph. Also, I have seen several farms larger than Andorra, was quite happy to find anything from there at all.


The Real by Ayah Marar

From: JORDAN (based UK)

Apparently Ayah Marar is somewhat well known in Jordan and UK (and elsewhere), but this was god awful. Really unoriginal, boring and borderline annoying drum and bass. Only decent track was the sole instrumental. Gave it a shot because I was getting really desperate finding something from Jordan. Avoid.


Travel With Me My Dove And Listen To Me...lit Ankory

From: YEMEN

A one-woman show from the ports of Yemen, this is some really unique stuff. Margalit Ankory lets us dive into the streets and sounds of Yemen in this surprisingly atmospheric project, utilizing some pretty sophisticated recording techniques for mid-70's middle east. Almost beat-box-M.I.A.-esque at time, she's evidently a talented percussionist. Are there a handful of bangers? Well, not really, but it's dead-on the sort of stuff I was looking for when starting this project. Streaming on Spotify, give it a spin.

[Hayden]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

France edition

*sips espresso, eats croissant, stares at walls of Nutella*

Oui oui, France owns a lot of islands (like, 20 or so). I figured I’d group them together and plop Monaco in for good measure.

I know several users know this, but I’ve been residing in France the past while, soaking up the culture and doing my best not to butcher the language while getting a haircut. It’s been a blast, but I haven’t learned too much about music here that I didn’t already know. Jazz is huge, which makes sense, and UK/American pop is on most overhead speakers at shopping malls, but since being here I feel I’ve been failing to dig deep into the music of France. I’ve yet to buy a record… and apart from some quick digging in Paris and morning markets, haven’t really been to record shops. Most 12” bins are filled with music from literally anywhere else but France, but the singles are French to no end. Either way, whether or not the French perceive their music as ‘cool’, I’ve always dug it. Also, they like hip-hop.


Silence & Wisdom by Deux Filles

From: FRANCE (in theory, but not really)

Thought about going more ye-ye, but decided on an old (slept on) favourite. Ambient-pop, borderline dreamy, borderline electronic, and brilliant. Besides, what's a better choice for France than an album that's not French at all?

(Story pasted from discogs profile, cause I can’t write it any better, and then a blerb from The Quietus)

"Gemini Forque and Claudine Coule met as teenagers at a holiday pilgrimage to Lourdes, during which Coule's mother died of an incurable lung disease and Forque's mother was killed and her father paralyzed in a grisly auto accident. The two teens bonded over their shared grief and worked through their bereavement with music. However, after recording two critically acclaimed albums and playing throughout Europe and North America, Forque and Coule disappeared without a trace in North Africa in 1984 during a trip to visit Algiers, where Forque had lived from birth to the age of five. Theories from abduction and murder to a planned disappearance to spontaneous human combustion have been floated, but in the ensuing years, not a trace of the duo has turned up except for a mysterious letter purportedly written by Coule claiming that the pair journeyed to India on a spiritual quest, only to meet with further hardships.

This would be a terribly sad story if a word of it were true. In reality, Deux Filles were Simon Fisher Turner, former child star/teen idol and future soundtrack composer, and writer/producer Colin Lloyd Tucker. Turner and Tucker left an early incarnation of The The in 1981 to pursue another musical direction. Turner claims that the idea of Deux Filles came to him in a dream, and he and Tucker strictly maintained the fiction throughout the duo's career. Not only did they pose in drag for the album covers, the duo once even played live without the audience realizing that the tragic French girls on-stage were actually a pair of blokes from south London having a giggle."

And that’s that.

"The best thing about some fictive characters is they never age. They remain frozen in aspect, cocooned in the womb of an imagination, even as the mind shows mortal signs of deterioration. That's a premise to keep in mind when discussing Gemini Forque and Claudine Coule, the affected drag duo fantasy fabricated by Colin Lloyd Tucker and Simon Fisher Turner and preserved without activity for nigh on 33 years. Like Marcel Duchamp donning the Rrose Selavy get up, there's a regal masquerade projected by Forque and Coule, in the photos that adorn their first album Silence & Wisdom, as if these two characters were estranged debutantes eluding aristocratic life for a precarious bohemian freedom. The record itself seems to exist outside of any criteria, withholding an immersive ether-elegance that wanders through lulling soft-pedal jangle, surreal burrows of ambience and a maze of sporadic spoken word samples which sound like the orations of benign phantoms. So complete and alluring is their world that the frolicsome yarn they've spun – of two arch boys essentially playing dress up - becomes one you want to believe in. It's a transformation Tucker himself has at one time signalled as all consuming: "we became Claudine and Gemini"."



In New York by Michel Sardaby

From: MARTINIQUE

Despite its size, there’s a surprising amount of music that’s come out of Martinique. It’s def somewhere I’m hoping to dive more into in the future… here’s a super underappreciated jazz record by Michel Sardaby that I’ve dug for a few years now. Yes, it was done in New York, and Sardaby’s from France, but it’s a damn good album and I couldn’t resist. Looking forward to digging up some records by Henri Guedon and Marius Cultier in the future… once I find them.


Il N'y A Plus Rien by Léo Férré

From: MONACO

Basically the only possible entry for Monaco, sooooo, gave it a listen. Monaco’s a pretty insane place to live (not neccesarily in a good way), and an even weirder place to have a citizenship to. I’m actually somewhat surprised any citizens have made albums from there at all. Ferre’s 1973 effort is fairly renowned, but still a little iffy (maybe his earlier work is different, dunno). Think Serge Gainsbourg, but yelling for some reason. Handful of long poetic takes backed by orchestral arrangements.


Dans Mon île by Henri Salvador

From: FRENCH GUIANA

Brazil meets Cuba in French, with a pinch of Buddy Holly. Some chill stuff from the late 50’s, sounds like the cover. It's fairly short, give it a shot.


Somin Galisé by Lo Rwa Kaf

From: REUNION

Plucked this from Norm’s France chart. Gotta be honest, wasn’t tooooo big on it, but it was certainly different, especially for island music. Almost has some middle-eastern vibes, and the blues guitar work is so strangely displaced yet… works? It’s like a giant mixing pot poured over a box drum. Smidge repetitive, but definitely an interesting listen (don’t speak a word of creole and couldn’t find lyrics… so… can’t judge it on that…). Fav tracks: Ranpli Mon Ver & Apav


Tijan Pou Velo by Edmony Krater Et Zepiss

From: GUADELOUPE

Slightly more-structured-than-usual island music. The entire album’s got this cool vibe to it, nothing bordering tacky in the slightest. Chill stuff, something you wanna dance around a beach to while on drugs after listening to some voodoo guru tell you your future. Slick basslines, relaxed percussion, minimal vocals, it’s a nice find.

Shoutout to Brigitte Fontaine, Francoise Hardy, Daft Punk, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Serge Gainsbourg, Yann Tiersen, Sylvie Vartan, Phoenix, M83, Colleen, Justice, Natural Snow Buildings, Alexandre Desplat, Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes, Emmanuelle Parrenin, Air and all the other artists who make this country awesome.

RIP Johnny Hallyday

[Hayden]

El Fabuloso Aldemaro Y Su Onda Nueva by...aro Romero

From: VENEZUELA

No, no, it’s not Arca (but I thought about it). Instead, it’s Aldemaro Romero. A few years back I gave an album called Dinner In Caracas a listen and always thought it to be pretty decent (picked it up cause it was a mid-50’s release from South America, thought it might be like early MBP), and I never particularly gave much thought to the artist behind it (Romero). Turns out, 16 years later, the guy released one of Venezuala’s most popular and renowned albums of all time, and here it is. Summery acapella skat with some Brasilian twists. Super uplifting and bright, a little different than anything else that I’ve heard from South America.


The OK Thing To Do On Sunday Afternoon ...le Airport

From: HONG KONG

Some cute twee, short album, good stuff (will note that half’s in English).


Music From Southern Laos by Molam Lao

From: LAOS


Kigali Y' Izahabu by The Good Ones

From: RWANDA

‘The Good Ones is a trio of Rwandan genocide survivors who play joyous, acoustic love songs written in the ancient local, Kinyarwanda street dialect of their nation's capital, Kigali. Adrien Kazigira, Stany Hitimana and Jeanvier Havugimana recorded the songs collected on Kigali Y' Izahabu over the course of one summer evening on the back porch of a friend's home. The primary obstacle to recording the group was that the musicians showed up with only one guitar for two players, and that guitar was missing two strings.’

Guys, this is a really good album. Fantastic stuff that I'll most likely go back to from time to time in the summer. Possibly even my favourite find from this project. Heavy rec for singer/songwriter lovers.

[Luigii]

Yo do you have a link to the Moonface record?

[Hayden]

[Luigii]

Thank you. Looks so much easier compared to the Antarctica one you gave me earlier. Will get to it. Listening to the Continuum one and that one is on some foward thinking type shit. Will give the synopsis on both albums.

[Hayden]

[Luigii]

Well with Continuum my rating is either a 95 or 100. That record is just ridiculous.

[Luigii]

As for Moonface, I could see some what see where you are coming from due to not having a drum work compared to a lot of IDM and downtempo records. However I was actually floored by this. The texture work and the sounds are otherworldly. Was engaging all the way through. To me this was a 90.

[Hayden]