I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore [coll] – [Mississippi Records]

ArtCrimes   4/28/2009   12-inch, International

Mississippi Records of North Portland, OR, assembled this collection spanning 1927-1948 with a variety of styles and ethnic backgrounds. Although all recorded in the USA, the artists wear their heritage conspicuously, with Greek rebetica from Marika Papagika, early Tex-Mex from Lydia Mendoza, gospel from Two Gospel Keys, Cajun with Cleoma Falcon and Blind Uncle Gaspard, country from Blue Sky Boys (a rare track of theirs as far as I can tell), calypso from The Caresser and Wilmouth Houdini (another rare track or perhaps just titled incorrectly!), Hawaiian with Mike Hanapi’s Ilima Islanders and Mme. Riviere’s Hawaiians, klezmer with Jacob Hoffman, latin rhythms from Sexteto Bolona, an unidentified Indonesian artist on Sorban Palid, and the reed pipe stylings of Big Boy Cleveland. Over-riding concerns here seem to be for beauty and mystery in the selections, although the calypso tracks are more goofy that the others (by design). Most of the transfers are fairly clean. Although many of these tracks have been reissued before, most are new to KFJC. When I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll look up the dates for each of these recordings. [crimes]