Map 71 – "Ex-Socialite Needs a New Invention" – [Foolproof Projects]

Hemroid The Leader   7/13/2021   A Library, CD

Behold the newest addition to our catalog of UK’s Foolproof Projects, Map 71’s 3-song, 12-minute EP “Ex-Socialite Needs A New Invention.” Spoken word, percussion and synthesizer. Drummer Andy Pyne (West Hill Blast Quartet, Kellar, Aeolipile) and Brighton poet Lisa Jayne constitute Map 71, a noise-poetry homage to “first wave industrial stuff- Throbbing Gristle, SPK, Whitehouse, … Suicide.”

Marley, Bob and The Wailers – "Burnin' (Deluxe Edition)" – [Island]

Hemroid The Leader   7/13/2021   CD, Reggae

2004 2CD set. CD1 the classic basic common groundation reggae thing that everyone knows so well from hotboxing again&again in high school parking lots.
CD2 previously unreleased live show. Roadblock thing. One of Tosh’s last shows as a Wailer. Bunny stayed in Jamaica & did not go to England. Skeletal. Melody Maker 12/1/73 called the gig an “instant classic,” that the Wailers had “rightness to the music that flows intuitively from them.” Lively Up Yourself runs over 13m. No More Trouble favors Tosh vocal in the arrangement.

Sarid, Daniel / Kretzmer, Yoni / Evans, Michael – "Bring" – [Out Now Recordings]

Hemroid The Leader   5/17/2021   CD, Jazz

BRING Daniel Sarid, Yoni Kretzmer, Michael Evans

Like the angry guy at the mouthpiece make-out party, restrained free jazz trio gusts and squalls and never quite draws blood, forges unique sound. Searching melodic piano approach from leader Sarid. Outnow honcho Kretzmer’s klezzy Ayler-isms emit smoke but stop short. Evans absurdly kicks the kick down Cymbalism St. & Dada Lane. His original/absurd drum solo closes out 7. Solid release, adds to our Outnow/Kretzmer collection.

Closetjudas – "Non Sequitur" – [Self Release]

Hemroid The Leader   5/17/2021   A Library, CD

Remember the fifth by breaking the fourth.

Intellectual philosophical lofi 90s style rock, self-released by Mike Powell of Winnipeg. Doctoral thesis lyrics make your eyes glaze over. Settle into your favorite thrift store armchair and have chai while you puzzle this out. Extremely limited run: CD is #2 of 5

Sondheim, Alan – "Future Speed Sound" – [Public Eyesore]

Hemroid The Leader   4/27/2021   A Library, CD

Churning, shattering, rupturing, stuttering string improvisation as fast as possible with no repetition from Alan Sondheim on Public Eyesore. “I am riding the contour of what I am hearing And my fingers flailing about As if I wear(sic) under control.” He plays a diverse assortment of guitars, Arabic and Central Asian lutes and a viola. This is Sondheim’s 4th full-length in our library. Feat. vocal chants from Azure Carter on 4, 8, 12: “This is a prelude to a song/ Or is it an accompaniment to a song/ Or a prelude to …”

Ensemble Morkos – "Cedre Arabo-andalusian Muwashshah" – [Harmonia Mundi France]

Hemroid The Leader   2/3/2021   CD, International

Released 1999, Morkos Ensemble is a small group feat. vocalist, zither, violin, tambourine, and oud. The instrumentalists often double as chanters, following the vocalist. 17 tunes in all, 14 <3min.
Tracing roots in the music of the Arabo-Andalusian empire, Muwashshah (MYU-wuh-shuh ) refers to both a classical Arabic poetic form, and the music which takes it for lyrics.
Incipient sounds- after the Moors were expelled from Spain, their musical influence dispersed across the Greater Mahgreb region (western part of the Arab world, or northwest Africa- Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco).

Fortress City Armenian Songs From Nagorno Karabagh [coll] – [Pomegranate Music]

Hemroid The Leader   2/3/2021   CD, International

Armenian Choral Works, recorded in Shushi, Aug-Sep 2004. Armenian Chant is one of the oldest branches of Christian culture, introduced after the Christianization of Armenia in 301 AD. The music goes back further, composed in an indigenous notation called khaz. Recorded in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, these were composed between the 10th and 20th century. Mostly short: 20 of 27 don’t crack 3:00.

New Improvised Music From Buenos Aires [coll] – [Esp-Disk]

Hemroid The Leader   3/26/2020   A Library, CD

14 tunes between 8:22 & 1:38. ESP Disk. Mostly jazz with chamber, electroacoustic & noise. Heavy, not swinging: repeated destabilizations, shocks & devaluation underpin tension, crisis & terror. Mouthpiece sounds, processed audio, silences. Inhabits a unique space, not the usual skronk. Cool book.

Bunny Wailer – "Communication" – [Solomonic]

Hemroid The Leader   2/15/2020   CD, Reggae

Christian rasta in throwaway digital style. Some tracks stray from the formula, including:
#7, 15 g funk raps. #12, 13 drum circle, chant & sermon. #11 ska. #17 Y2K-house.

Fraser, Dean – "Big Up!" – [Island JDamaica Jazz]

Hemroid The Leader   12/12/2019   CD, Reggae

Classic reggae sax sound of Dean Fraser, playing 11 reggae-jazz hybrid tunes. Light, groovy take on things. Idris Muhammad shares the drum credit with Sly Dunbar. Nimble rhythm section. Sometimes more jazz than others (9, 10) with sounds like George Adams. Opens with cool “Dick Tracy”

Pablo, Augustus – "Live In Tokyo Japan" – [Jet Star]

Hemroid The Leader   12/12/2019   CD, Reggae

somehow. understanding partially the extremely high spiritual power of Augustus Pablo – he intends to give us the Love of God, with the understanding of our human position in this purgatory planet – I aimed in my mind to taste this nectar.
This is not just a band out for fun: this seemed more like a pilgrimage with a mission: to impart this taste of love of God in humility and human blues-reggæ: the music onto the King. 😊
That said: He plays all his distilled nectar.
Going back on these notes: He went with his herbalist doctor: armed with beautiful powerful herbs to help a dying Horace Brady/Augustus Pablo deliver this Crucial Message to JAHpan. this is I guess a vague idea of the instruction/communication imparted.
That said: rhythm section are headhunters: these guys ain’t jokin’. Difficult to mike and mix the melodica – but we get it. JAHpanese engineers must have been blown away. 😊
fans of: God: the JAHpanese Archipelago, refined”spaghetti” westerns depicting the struggle between Good and Evil – the good..- Pablo!: many quotes we recognize of Pablo’s melodies as sung!: “Africa must be free” even Wailers’ and many Studio One / Lee Perry recorded melodies: as Pablo was at home there. A hundred JAHmaican melodies here. after a few listens I am sure I’ll catch the Cuban Archipelago”Peanut Vendor / El Manicero”.
pss: indeed: on multiple relistens you hear I-JAHman Levi”s “Early in the morning”…
This album should be sitting comfortably between I-JAHman’s Haile I Hymn and Rico Rodríguez’s Man from Wáreika. tops

Byrd, John & Taylor, Walter – "Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order 1929-1931" – [RST Records]

Hemroid The Leader   12/10/2019   12-inch, Blues

John Byrd & Walter Taylor (1929-1931), Complete Recordings in chronological order

18 Rare country blues. Split LP, Byrd on side A; Walter Taylor (“Washboard Walter”) on the flip. Acquired taste, low-fi stuff for completists, Mickey Slim, & Pete Dixon. From Joe Bussard’s basement collection.

A1 & A2 recall spirituals, set up with John Byrd playing guitar & sermonizing, accompanied by a singer and a few congregants. Byrd is a cool guitar player. B side is kind of pedestrian.

Fire On The Mountain [coll] – [Pow Wow]

Hemroid The Leader   12/3/2019   CD, Reggae

Dread do Dead. Well-known reggae acts crossover. Good for turning off your mind, bad to think too much about. Grows on you like fungus. Kind of like it, but I also think it sucks. Distasteful. Entertaining.

Van De Vate, Nancy – "Chamber Music Vol.V" – [Vienna Modern Masters]

Hemroid The Leader   12/2/2019   A Library, CD

Art-damaged variety from Vienna-based American composer. Songs in English. 80s stuff is out there. #2 libretto from Margaret Atwood.
First 2 tracks run 8 & 11 min. Next 24 tracks all under 4:00, 16 of them under 2:00. Cont. Play Etudes or Fantasies.

Ranglin, Ernest – "Memories of Barber Mack" – [Island Jamaica Jazz]

Hemroid The Leader   12/2/2019   CD, Reggae

Blowin’ Smoke

10 instrumental reggae tunes, 4-7 minutes each, acoustic, bright jazzy sound, throwback “mento’ style. Dedicated to foundational mento saxophonist Barber Mack, who blew smoke into his sax and emerged from backstage with smoke “emitting from every orifice”(!).. Use it to nice up your show when you’re getting down. Sly on drums. They do ‘Stop That Train’ as well as ‘Fade Away’, and the rest are Ranglin tunes.

Rautavaara, Einojuhani – "Cantus Arcticus" – [Catalyst]

Hemroid The Leader   11/11/2019   A Library, CD

Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (pronounced AY-no-yu-hah-ni ROW-ta-vah-ra) was born in Helsinki on Oct. 9, 1928. Cantus Arcticus & Symphony No. 5 performed by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. String Quartet No. 4 performed by the Sirius String Quartet.

Canticus Arcticus (1972) is a Concerto for Birds and Orchestra. Foggy & textural gradients. 3 movements, 17 min.

String Quartet No. 4 (1975) cool postwar quartet, Schoenberg 12-tones. Indeterminate pitches. Meditative. Different from the usual Western stuff. 3 movements, 22 min.

Symphony No. 5 (1985) is big and ambitious, a little disjointed here and there, maybe from the large scale. Entertaining and likeable. Maybe listen to the first half. 31 min.

Los Panchos – "Contigo Aprendi Mis Numero 1" – [Sony Music Distribution]

Hemroid The Leader   10/23/2019   CD, International

Los Panchos

Twenty #1 smashes, 1948-91. Boleros and romantic ballads from Los Panchos, one of the top trios of all time. Formed 1944 in NYC. Soon after, they had a dedicated timeslot on XER-AM, Mexico City’s top station. International tours, movie appearances, millions sold. Varied orchestration: some with strings, others sparser.

Divine Horsemen: Voodoo Gods of Haiti, The [coll] – [Psychic Sounds]

Hemroid The Leader   8/14/2019   12-inch, International

Divine Horsemen

Chanting blistering banging clanging meat science rituals and cult field recordings to wake up Satan in Hell recorded in Haiti by filmmaker-Voudoun acolyte Maya Deren and released on Lyrichord 1980. Cool insert.

Kirkpatrick, Rev. Frederick Douglass – “Square Dance With Soul” [Smithsonian Folkways]

Hemroid The Leader   6/3/2019   12-inch, Blues

Rec. ’69, Folksinger Frederick D. Douglass Kirkpatrick is backed by The Hearts for these 10 soul square dances. Great add to our collection of both artists. Side A is the hokey-pokey and other mellow fare. The Rev’s call-and-response with the Hearts insistent backing gets hot on Side B. Outstanding book, in case you need more direction.

Mapuche [coll] – [Alerce]

Hemroid The Leader   5/3/2019   CD, International

Mapuche, ALERCA CDAE 0334

Early 80s rituals from unconquered Aracaunian (Chile/Argentina) jungle telepaths. Folded branches, rope knotting, & the secret language of triangles. Voices, jaw harps, horns and percussion.

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