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Greetings, Audiofiends! I'm stepping away from my usual WFMU Comic Supplement posts today to point to a few audio-centric websites that I still regularly use. Naturally, many fine pages disappear or go dormant, but these are some that have remained robust for many years (and one interesting newbie).
Many pages feature rarities that are so long out of print and obscure that they are one of the only sources of the material, while others are more of a 'listening room' where you can stream or download material to judge whether to buy it from a vendor legitimately.
Here are my top five current favorites:
Allen's Archive of Early and Old Country Music, whose title pretty much sums up the contents. Terrific old vinyl in various genres, and occasional lovely collections of 78rpm records. Cover artwork, occasional label art, good information when he knows it. This has been a wonderful resource over the years, and is great for experimental downloads - surprise yourself with some unfamiliar stuff.
Willard, here, used to run a fantastic Harry Nilsson page that is much missed since it's untimely departure last year. His Wormhole page is a currently awesome resource for listening to some hard-to-find oddities and bonus tracks by a very wide variety of artists and styles (as well as videos). Plus he really knows his material and does his homework.
Lonesome Lefty is another site specializing in old-timey folk and country material. They seem to be based out of Canada or somewhere way up North as a lot of the records come from up there. Lots of liner notes from Lefty accompany all posts so that you are always well-informed about the album in question.
Our pal Uncle Gil spins loads of different types of records, with a decided slant towards vintage R&B and early rock and roll, but you never know what will turn up in here. Many surprises. Worth a good dredge every so often. Another site that puts up a steady stream of new material all the time. This one is perhaps based in Europe somewhere, as the pressings seem to almost all originate overseas, which makes for some nice unusual versions of records.
And lastly, our newcomer to the daily-posting-of-vinyl-records scene:
This one just started up on January first, and threatens to put up a different record every day. So far, the selection is thrift-stor-ey and cool, and the downloads are high-quality for the most part and include well-scanned and edited cover artwork. No information given - just slabs of wax served up hot. I'm enjoying this page a lot so far, they have showcased several favorite records of mine in the short time they have been online. And I thought that WFMU people would appreciate the "365 Days" aspect of this site (is there a connection with us-? Your guess is as good as mine).
On July 1, Google will finally kill off its popular RSS feed aggregator Reader. Claiming that short-form-news delivery platforms like Twitter are more in tune with how people consume information, Google is abandoning Reader eight years after it was introduced.
For the purposes of producing Mining the Audio Motherlode, this has been, if not a disaster, a huge pain in the arse. I have relied heavily on Reader to help me keep tabs on more than 500 music-sharing blogs, reading, saving and managing many hundreds of posts on a daily basis. Almost as soon as Google announced Reader's demise, a surfeit of products hoping to replace it flooded the market. I migrated to the best of them, Feedly, in March, but still find it a considerably greater challenge to use. Feedly promises upgrades, including the essential ability to search among previously saved items, but until it does, the time and effort it takes to pump out the Motherlode will probably keep publishing it on a roughly bi-weekly schedule.
But enough about the sausage-making, how about some sausage!
Ngati Dread "We have here a collection of Maori songs by several Maori composers. Three of these are by Kingsi Tahiwi of the Ngati Raukawa tribe. The four Hikuroa sisters had a duty to their parents and, in particular, to their father who took a deep interest in Maori music and the training of his daughters' voices. This is what motivated these essentially individualistic soloists into collaborating their vocal efforts in the belief that they had something worthwhile to offer Maori music. KAY who sings lead in all the songs has a particularly outstanding voice and is a versatile singer. Her rendering of 'Now Is the Hour' with her sisters, touches one to the very soul. KELLY, the soloist in most of the songs, as well as her artistic technique, has a deep vibrant quality which brings colour to the different presentations. LAURA, the youngest of the group, has a soft deep voice so necessary to this type of harmony. HINERANGI, the eldest of the sisters, composes many of the songs used by the Quartet, with the idea of encouraging the Maori people to use their natural talents in this field." (Description from the liner notes)
One of the best destinations online for intelligent writing about fantastic music is the blog Office Naps. Now in its eighth (!) year, Office Naps keeps steadily pumping out erudite explorations of unusual musical categories—recent ground covered includes moody country melodrama, Arabic-American fusions and variations on Eden Ahbez's "Nature Boy"—each one replete with a trio of killer songs to sample.
Proprietor Little Danny is ever generous with historical detail, contextual analysis, and personal observations on offbeat recordings and the artists who made them. Danny's magnificent record collection is on display through the voluminous archived pages of Office Naps. Need extra incentive to read posts dating to 2006? Since his sounds files are hosted locally, all the downloads are still available! And if these offerings aren't nearly enough, take time to visit Danny's other sites, the virtual jukeboxes The Exotica Project and The Lonely Planet. This is sonic spelunking of the highest order. Do yourself a favor and get caught napping.
For Office Naps' latest sonic expedition see our lead item, below.
Arresting Sounds "[These] three selections are more than just the sum of their jazz atmospherics, walking bass lines and bursts of brass, organ and strings. These share a peculiar theatricality with other jazz-based themes of the era–themes that, during opening credits, foretold ninety minutes of intrigue and high-stakes thrills. These selections embody the spirit of DRAMATIC ACTION. The sense of danger, justice and dark, moving forces is flamboyant, even hysterical. Sometimes it’s not enough for music just to be listened to. Sometimes it has to kick down the door and scream at you." (Description by Little Danny)
The universe of music-sharing blogs just keeps expanding. My latest obsession is Lola Vandaag, which began posting in October 2011. Describing itself as ongeregelde verzameling geluid ("unregulated collection of sound"), this wonderful blog leaves no continent unappreciated.
Some of the delights you'll encounter: Enchanting radio broadcasts from the world over, street organ sounds, international religious oddities, smoldering dance bands, cantorial superstars, rantings of shamans and mushroom enthusiasts, sizzling accordionists, music that will make you cry—and that's just hoeing the topsoil. Dig in and get your ears dirty.
To whet your appetite, check out our lead-off item, below.
The Wisdom of Solomon Islanders "The society in question is that of the 'Are'are, whose 8,000 members live in the southern part of Malaita....The 'Are'are call instrumental music 'au ("bamboo"), for, with the exception of the slit drum 'o'o, all instrumental music is played with instruments made of bamboo. The most gifted musicians, the true mane ni 'au ("men of music") continue even today to compose new mani 'au ("pieces of music"). Instrumental music is "programme" music (in the broadest sense, or in the narrower sense, one could call it "descriptive" music). Each piece, composed according to strict rules, carries a title which is a general résumé of the "programme." Bird calls, frog croaks, buzzing of insects and the cries of other animals, the patter of rain drops on a leaf, the murmur of a river or the roaring of the ocean, the crackle of branches in the wind; all the sounds of nature can furnish the theme for a composition. Man-made sounds can as well: children crying, the groaning of the sick or wounded, the snoring of sleepers, words, work noises, etc. Certain compositions are inspired by melodies coming from songs or from other types of instrumental ensembles. Certain pieces translate a visual theme such as the swaying of a spider or the come and go of people." (Description by Hugo Zemp, taken from the liner notes to Volume 3 in this same series.)
Most excellent news! One of the preeminent music bloggers out there—Reza, who
not long ago shuttered his site, El Reza, after nearly six years of stellar
sharing—has resurfaced as a contributor to another blog!
Earlier this year, it appeared that Reza had returned after taking some time off, but his return was agonizingly short-lived. Now, once again, it appears that our man with big ears is back in action, this time as a partner in sublime with Boogieman from the wonderful blog The Boogieman Will Get Ya! And if Reza's debut contribution is any indication (see our lead item, below), the sonic thrill ride is back on track. Welcome back, Reza!
How Swede It Is "Superb Nordic jazz with shades of Sun Ra / Art Ensemble Of Chicago / Palle Mikkelborg Mysterious Corona / Marion Brown's Le Temps Fou funky free jazz and groovy psychedelic sounds of the period. Experimental mood music recorded in the studios of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation for the TV ballet, Riedaiglia (an avant garde dance production by Lars Egler with choreography by Alvin Ailey). Features the psychedelic club tune Gluttony, Strange, spacey and addictive atmospheres with lots more improvised jazz horns / scat voices / sophisticated rhythms and solos throughout the whole LP." (Description by Reza)
Carrier Belleuse Pierre La Maison De Musique (Public Domain)
This April, WFMU and the Free Music Archive are challenging artists everywhere to create new recordings and contemporary arrangements of historic compositions available in the public domain. We’re calling this our Revitalize Music Contest.
To inspire entries, we’ve handpicked a selection of out-of-copyright songs with compelling lyrics, beautiful melodies, and unusual stories. Keep in mind that unless materials are listed in our contest repository, the recordings of performances we link to are still within the scope of copyright. After learning about the songs and contest rules here below, you can browse our pool of entries and submit your own here.
An old Mormon hymn with a beautiful melody that first came to our attention when Haruomi Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra) recorded a version. You can stream this version for inspiration. It features lyrics by Jeremiah E. Rankin (1828-1904) and music by William G. Tomer (1833-1896).
In addition to showing up constantly on TV, movies, and when you open musical jewelry boxes, this song has been recorded by Bing Crosby, Roy Orbison, and (our personal favorite) Justine and the Victorian Punks. It was originally a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864) that was published posthumously by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York.
A comic song that was performed by Al Jolson in his show The Honeymoon Express. It's also notably been sung by "outsider" musician Tony Mason-Cox, an Australian insurance agent who believed himself to be the reincarnation of a black slave from 19th Century Alabama. It was written by Billy Merson.
Felix Arndt (1889–1918) wrote this novelty ragtime-style piano roll as an engagement gift to his fiancée (and later wife), Nola Locke. He died just three years after it was published, and lyrics were later added by James F. Burns.
One winning song from our pool of entries will be given a Rebecca Black "Friday" treatment. We’ll be hiring a music video professional to create an original music video that showcases the winning song and shares it with a wider audience.
Our judges include Edward Guo (Founding Director, IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library), April Ledbetter (Dust-to-Digital Record Company), Laura Cantrell (Singer-Songwriter), Joel Meyer (Executive Producer, WNYC's Soundcheck), Adam Green (Editor, Public Domain Review) and Ken Freedman (Station Manager, WFMU). They'll be evaluating entries based on originality, creativity, artistic merit, adherence to the "Revitalize Music" theme, and general musical appeal. For the songs we’ve chosen above, we welcome exact covers, in-exact covers, repurposed elements, mashups, stems, and everything in-between.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Entries should be comprised of music that you create yourself, material that's in the public domain, or other material that you have express permission to use. Keep in mind that most recordings and performances of these public domain songs are still within the scope of copyright.
Entrants must create accounts on the Free Music Archive in order to submit to the contest. This way we have your info. You can sign up here.
Entries must be in the form of an audio recording and in MP3 format, stereo bitrate 192kbps or higher (256kbps preferred).
Entries must be submitted using our form here. You can submit as many entries as you'd like.
Songs enter the public domain when their copyright expires or if the song’s author has forfeited rights and dedicated the song to the greater good. The Public Domain Review explains the public domain eloquently as an "invaluable and indispensable good, which - like our natural environment and our physical heritage - deserves to be explicitly recognized, protected and appreciated."
MORE ABOUT CC0
While most songs enter the public domain because of old age, Creative Commons offers a CC0 Public Domain Declaration that allows artists to dedicate their work to the public domain. It seems fitting that entries to the contest will breathe new life into the Public Domain by returning to whence they came. These new works can then be more easily shared, remixed, and built upon during the contest and after the contest ends. We imagine these entries being used in video projects, coursework, video games, podcasts, and beyond.
Using CC0, you waive all copyrights and related or neighboring rights that you have over your work, such as your moral rights (to the extent waiveable), your publicity or privacy rights, rights you have protecting against unfair competition, database rights, and rights protecting the extraction, dissemination, and reuse of data. More information here.
During these halcyon days for marriage equality, the notion of a flamboyantly gay singer capturing the heart of the nation would seem a rather ho-hum affair. But what about back in the 1950s—and in a largely Muslim country?
Universally beloved across generations in Turkey, Zeki Müren, who died on stage in 1996 at the age of 64, was as adored an Anatolian performer as there ever was. Called the "Sun" of Turkish classical music, Müren's appearance became more effeminate as he got older and the Turkish (and Greek) multitudes loved him all the more. Like Liberace, to whom he has been endlessly compared, Müren never volunteered revelations of his sexuality. But he never really hid it either, and the story of Turkey's universal devotion to him is endlessly fascinating. A two-disc collection of Müren's older, classical singing is available via the eminent Bodega Pop. A recording of "Hatıra," one of Müren's most popular songs, is included in the Turkish 45s bonanza leading off today's Motherlode.
[Lest you think Turkey is some sort of liberal sanctuary for progressive artists, read this.]
Turkey Platters Dig this trove of more than two dozen Turkish delights of the 45rpm variety. Wonderful performances by stars Selda, Cem Karaca, Edip Akbayram, Fikret Kizilok, Gökçen Kaynatan, Nese Karaböcek, Orhan Gencebay, and many more including one of my all-time favorites, Zeki Müren!
Keeping the Motherlode stocked with links to great free sounds requires keeping tabs on many hundreds of music-sharing blogs on a daily basis. To do this while maintaining some semblance of sanity/personal hygiene, I have relied mightily on Google Reader, an RSS-feed aggregator that pulls new posts from blogs of one's choosing to into a single location.
But...gack! Google has just announced that it is discontinuing Reader on July 1. This is an outrage. It's a nightmare. It's an outmare! Since there are many dozens of records I want to download that pop up daily in my Reader, I've used it to "save" old posts until I can get to them. I currently have more than 10,000 items going back well over a year. (Another nifty and essential feature of Reader is that it saves old blog posts in perpetuity—even after the original blog itself has been deleted!)
If you're like me and have leaned on Google Reader for organizing and preserving posts from key music blogs, don't despair. Numerous outfits with their own RSS aggregators are seizing on the coming Google Reader vacuum. So far, the best I've found is Feedly, which can be tailored to fairly reasonably re-create the look and functionality of Reader. Better yet, you can use your Google log-in and have all your old saved blog posts imported. I will continue to report on Feedly as I get to know it better. In the meantime use the comments below to share your experience and with this or other RSS-feed apps.
He Once Lived in Baden-Baden! "A versatile artist, Baden Powell made no distinction between samba and classical music, the influence of African music and candomblé, of jazz and the bossa nova, thereby tearing apart the border between the popular and the erudite. After studying classical guitar for many years, Baden developed a unique style of playing, combining virtuous elements with the swing and harmony of Brazilian popular music (MPB), exploring the limits of the instrument to the full. Recognized throughout the world, Baden cut more than 40 records abroad." (Description from a cultural page at www.brazil.gov.br)
Today's Mining the Audio Motherlode is dedicated to reader Holly from NC, who donated generously to WFMU during its annual fundraiser and "adopted" your Motherlode's Miner—again! Holly has the biggest heart and the wide-openest ears of anyone in Blogville, and we here at the Motherlode are grateful.
To the Miner's great delight, Holly's old friend Lunchbox (pictured, at left) will continue to accompany all subterranean vinyl expeditions for another year. (Man and beast have grown quite fond of one another after all.)
Three cheers to Holly and all wonderful fans of Beware of the Blog and WFMU who've contributed!
Origin Rhythm Method "Born on June 28, 1936m in Edikwu Village, Oturkpo, Idoma Division, Benue Plateau State, Nigeria, Ray Stephen Oche comes from a family of musicians, singers and flute players. His ancestors and folks were undisputed celebrities in the intervillage festivals of music, especially in the 1930s, and Ray just followed with amazing ease and talent, the path they had so gloriously thread." (Description from theliner notes.)
Hey, somehow in hustle and bustle of pumping out this weekly music missive, I forgot to celebrate my 200th Motherlode. A lot has gone on in the four years since I started this column. I got laid off, moved to Pittsburgh, cranked up the webstream Give the Drummer Radio for WFMU (read all about its "heroics" after Hurricane Sandy here) and all the while, scoured and devoured the free-music omniverse for links to downloads of many hundreds of devastatingly good records.
To mark this auspicious (cough, cough) occasion, I would like to use this space to recall some of my favorite Motherlodes over the years:
Motherlode #41 A tribute to my war hero father on Veteran's Day.
Motherlode #91
Speculation on the truth behind CIA control of the blogosphere.
Motherlode #36 A story about me and my all-time musical hero, guru and rabbi Yusef Lateef.
Motherlode #138.2 (Bonus) Wherein I proposed a 43-year-old tune to be the anthem for the Occupy movement.
Motherlode #51 A remembrance of a dear soul diva and deviled egg maestro, Sandra Wright.
Motherlode #34 A special commentary on race in America, starring Kanye West, Taylor Swift, our African-American-in-Chief, and starring Beyoncé in the role of Hattie McDaniel
Motherlode #20 A celebration of one of the great moments in recorded American History.
The changing relationship between radio airplay, record sales, musicians and income
For at least fifty years of the 20th century, the relationship between music and radio airplay was fairly well understood. Record executives knew that if they wanted a hit record, they needed that song to get played on the radio, preferably as many times as possible. In fact, until 2000, radio airplay was essentially a prerequisite to selling significant amounts of recorded music.
Clearly, radio airplay is still critical – especially for genres like pop, country and urban/R&B – but in recent years both radio and the mechanisms for selling music have been upended. Traditional commercial radio, with its limited playlists and regional reach, has been challenged by new forms of radio: webcast versions of existing stations (including WFMU), pureplay webcast stations like Soma-FM or Pandora, and Sirius XM satellite radio. Then there are the interactive services like Spotify, Rhapsody, Last.fm, and Rdio, many of which mimic radio through playlist options or pre-programmed channels. And there's YouTube, now considered one of the most widely used sources of music discovery in the world.
The sale of recorded music has also changed. Prior to about 2000, the money that a musician could make from the sale or license of a sound recording was pretty simple: you could sell physical copies of an album or a single in a retail setting like a record shop, you could sell them via mailorder, or at shows/gigs. If you were lucky and your music was placed in a movie or TV show, you could make money from the synch license on the master recording. But that was about it. Since about 2000, these options have expanded to include digital sales on stores like iTunes and Amazon, digital performance royalties when sound recordings are streams on non-interactive services like Pandora or Sirius XM, and interactive service payments for streams on Spotify/Rhapsody. And there are more.
The average US consumer now has dozens of low-cost or free ways to listen to and discover new music. What has this done to the relationship between radio airplay and music sales? And, more to the point, are musicians benefiting from this changing landscape?
In 2010, the nonprofit Future of Music Coalition launched Artist Revenue Streams, a multi-method, cross-genre examination of musicians' revenue streams, how they are changing over time, and why. We used three methods to collect data: in-person interviews with over 80 hard-working musicians and composers; an online survey that was completed by over 5,300 US-based musicians and composers, and financial case studies that allowed us to fully examine musicians' income and expenses over time.
Quite an epiphany kicks off today's haul. Ever hear of Indian sax legend Braz Gonsalves? Me neither until the excellent Indian and Pakistani Vinyl blog dropped the stunner that leads off today's Motherlode. Gonsalves turns 80 this year and just stopped playing jazz for good (though not because of age. He has renounced it due to his religious faith and now only performs gospel.)
If you're a lover of Indian-jazz hybrid sounds like me—or even if you're not—here's a way to make yourself very happy in three simple steps: (1) Click the link below and devour the major delicacy, "Raga Rock," immediately. (2) Head over to the Inconstant Sol blog and download Hum Dono, possibly the greatest album in this style ever recorded. (3) Sit back and enjoy this hour-long special I produced for WFMU back in 2011: Audio / Playlist.
Ragas to Riches "Braz Gonsalves has made an international name for himself as a great jazz saxophonist. Fondly known as “The Grandfather” of Indian jazz, Braz was born in Neura, Goa and learned music at his father’s knee. He pioneered Indo-Jazz fusion and made an original album in Calcutta in 1970 called Raga Rock. Braz was selected by the Government of India, as India’s jazz ambassador to a numerable Jazz Festivals. He participated in more international and local jazz festivals than any other Indian musician." (Description taken from a page at TargetGoa.com)
[This version of "Raga Rock" has the intro and the ending faded out. A poorer quality but complete version can be heard on this video. Not shared in the download linked to above is the flip side of "Raga Rock," a number with Pam Craine singing "No Amount of Loving." You can listen to that track right here.]
I received a comment during my latest radio show asking if I was going to play any music by Butch Morris. Morris, the legendary composer, cornetist and group-improvisation innovator had recently died and the listener was, understandably, asking if I was going to be paying tribute. The truth is I have mixed feelings about producing "remembrance" broadcasts. Doing so is a perfectly reasonable thing to do (no station produces better memorial programming than WKCR in New York), and, in fact, I've been moved to present such programs on numerous occasions. But I just can't escape the feeling that this conceit comes tinged with an opportunism that diminishes the sort of tribute I aim to pay my my musical heroes in an ongoing basis.
I experience similar conflicts over the celebration of Black History Month. However worthy the respect and acknowledgment, the formalized segregation of its expression to this one month a year feels like a cheapening to me.
In the spirit of muddling my personal confusion further, please allow me to pay memorial tribute to these magnificent African-American musical genius who left us during the past year...
LAWRENCE D. "BUTCH" MORRIS February 10, 1947 – January 29, 2013 "…Morris has waxed several other albums that deserve canonization. First, there’s In Touch… But Out of Reach, recorded live in 1978 with a stellar ensemble. It showcases Morris’s more traditional abilities as a cornetist, composer, and bandleader. It’s still adventurous work, but might prove an easier entry for some listeners than the later genre-hopping offerings. In Touch offers key insights into his later work as well as plenty of unalloyed musical pleasure. 'Irin Sun' provides a rare chance to hear Morris as a key part of the band, in a decidedly non-epic setting. Primarily a vehicle for Eubanks, who borrows something of Abdullah Ibrahim’s limpid beauty, the track floats by briskly. It's a lovely, if brief, postcard from Africa. 'Lovers Existing' is a more significant statement, and its shifting arrangements and multiple instrumental combinations suggests the grand experiments in conduction to come. In his typical generous fashion, Morris lays out for much of the track, though his guidance is everywhere evident. Wilbur Morris covers a lot of ground in strong support of Moncur’s long solo, and beneath Morris's late turn about two-thirds of the way in." (Description by Chilly Jay Chill & Prof. Drew LeDrew, atDestination: Out)
Like Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Dunham won a Guggenheim to study culture of the African diaspora in Haiti and elsewhere. Like Maya Deren, who was once Dunham's secretary, the pioneering choreographer traveled to the field and produced an historic recording of music and ritual in the field. (Maya Deren's Voices of Haiti was shared right here in Motherlode #165.) Our lead item today presents Dunham's miraculous 1956 recordings of Haitian, Cuban and Brazilian drums and song. The LP features a crew of legendary percussionists including Francisco Aguabella, Julito Collazo and Albert Laguerre, who all traveled back the U.S. and toured with Dunham's dancers. Check out all five of the wonderful recordings here, but be sure to grab this groundbreaking document.
A Drum Is a Drum "The nonagenarian Katherine Dunham was Afrocentric before there were Afros. As a dancer, she performed African-derived rhythms of the Americas with her pioneering dance troupes, which included Eartha Kitt and Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhura). She studied far-flung rhythms and dances as a University of Chicago-trained anthropologist and wrote about them in several books, including Island Possessed and Journey to Accompong. And she choreographed a number of movies, including Lena Horne's Cabin in the Sky. Her unique blend of academics and art is aurally evident on this rare percussion recording featuring Cuban Santería drum rituals, Brazilian sambas and Haitian Voodoo chants and spells." (Description by Eugene Holley Jr., in Philadelphia Weekly)
[For the DL link, click on the second DESCARGAR in the last line of text.]
Beloved anarchist Emma Goldman famously chirped, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution." No cause is worth denial of joy, she insisted. From the fife and drum troops of the Continental Army, to the populist warblings of Woody Guthrie, to the Boss rocking the presidential stump, music has contributed to social and political upheaval throughout history.
Take the Civil Rights movement for example, which was so awash in song as to have its own virtual soundtrack. But not all such music was a joyous affair worthy of Emma Goldman. Particularly the collection of songs reflecting on the most calamitous moment of the era, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To acknowledge King's birthday on January 15, I produced this hour-long broadcast for WFMU. Now the Motherlode pays tribute with its own contribution, in the form of our lead item, below.
Got MLK? "The songs on this collection are living history. Guido Van Rijn, a Dutch music writer/journalist wrote a book called President Johnson’s Blues which was an exploration of how Blues and Gospel artists responded to the Presidency of LBJ, and the assassination of MLK and Robert Kennedy, both in 1968." (Description from ajnabi, at Washerman's Dog)
The flipping of the calendar has brought flippin' great developments in Blogland with the rumbling back to life of some favorite sites that had been inactive for too long. Today's Motherlode welcomes back this quartet of music-sharing shrines with hopes for a robust 2013:
• The rare and private-press avant offerings from El Reza • Likembe's magnificent African explorations • Fifties and sixties hipness from jazz purveyor Sic Vos Non Vobis • The miraculous mess of twang dished out by archivist Hillbilly-Researcher
Stratified The fantastic El Reza has rumbled
back to life with this offering from Detroit's long-defunct Strata Records. Predecessor to the groundbreaking Strata-East, Strata recorded three
dozen LPs' worth of material, but released only six. This offering being
one of them.
DJ/historian Amir Abdullah is heroically relaunching recordings
from Strata on his label 180 Proof—reissuing some of the
previously released discs and issuing, for the first time, some never-before-heard masters from the Strata vaults. (The album shared here is not among
those currently planned for re/release.) Abdullah appeared on John
Schaefer's "Soundcheck" show on WNYC radio last month. Listen to their conversation. Learn more about Abdullah's Strata reissue project here.
The music-sharing scene took a beating in 2012, what with the demolition of Megaupload, the neutering of Rapidshare and Mediafire, and the immolation, self- and otherwise, of countless shrines to music adoration across the blogosphere. But through it all, the hits just kept coming and we here at Mining the Audio Motherlode were mighty chuffed to celebrate the best of the choicest postings in this space on a weekly basis.
Before we turn our earlobes to the torrent of brilliant recordings to come in 2013, let's take a look back at the Miner's favorite offerings in the past year of Motherlodes. In case you missed them the first time, the download links to these wonders are still working, so get your clicks on. Happy Old Ears!
From Motherlode #170 "It is a good time to revive that anthem that made Timmy Thomas so special to millions of South Africans. Milner Park Stadium, Johannesburg in December 1978 was an edgy place for thousands of black South Africans to sing songs like “Why Can’t We Live Together” at a live concert. The song again became a big hit on the eve of South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. For many, the song still holds relevance today, in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. (Description from Chris Albertyn, at Electric Jive)
Ah, the sweet scourge of "Christmas music." As with gruesome highway mayhem, you just can't avert your ears! Whether it's so bad it's good, or just plain so good, sonic seasonal fare is here to stay, so we might as well wallow in it. And wallowing in it is Mining the Audio Motherlode's organizing principle. (To prove it, check out our Xmas music features from 2009, 2010 and 2011.)
Of course, if the music-sharing blogs didn't go all Christmas-y, there would be nothing to blather on about here. Of all the holiday-related offerings in Blogland this season, the most satisfying comes from the sublime site Feel it, where host Darcy is posting a new track each day, advent-calendar style. Thanks Darcy!
Continuing my crusade to lighten the end-times pall occluding the blogosphere, I use this space to remind sonic explorers to check the archives at your favorite sites, for there's golden sounds in them thar pages. Take for example the lead off item in today's Motherlode.
A private press recording from '74 of black-positive musical theater from Chicago, this rarity has earned big bucks on the auction sites for years, but the LP has been posted, free for the taking since August 2011 at Digging for Diamonds in Mountains of Mediocrity. (How could the Miner not love a blog with such a name?) Most blogs provide easy-to-navigate links to archived pages. Use them!
Fairy Tale "'Black Fairy' was the second play at the Lamont Zeno Community Theater, a cultural program of the Better Boys Foundation, a family agency located in North Lawndale in Chicago. Many of the youngsters who perform in the play are members of our Youth Theater Development Program which is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Under the capable guidance of Pemon Rami and his staff, we were able to take youngsters who had no previous theater experience and train them to become competent performers and also teach them other technical theater skills. The result of this effort has made 'Black Fairy' a favorite among both children and adults who have had an opportunity to see it. During the summer of 1974 'Black Fairy' was performed for over four thousand children in Chicago. And, in April of 1975, it played to over two thousand children in Detroit at Mercy College. 'Black Fairy' is the only the first of many children's plays we hope to produce at the Better Boys Foundation. There is an Afrikan proverb which says "Children are the reward of life." We at Better Boys Foundation are dedicated to this belief, and feel that helping children to appreciate their heritage is one means of showing our concern for their development." (Asante Sana Eugene (Useni) Perkins, from the liner notes)
[Note #1: This LP marks the first appearance on record of saxophonist Chico Freeman.] [Note #2: The production that preceded Black Fairy at Lamont Zeno in March '74 was the premiere of Oscar Brown Jr.'s musical Slave Song.]
Given the ever shorter shelf-lives of download links in free-music blogging, it goes without saying that the recordings shared in this space might not be around too long. I suppose it could be considered a minor (miner?) miracle if the music referenced here remains accessible during the entire week of each Motherlode posting. My best advice: Lunge don't linger.
But thinking about all the old links decomposing in the nearly four years' worth of Motherlode posts makes me sad. This column is meant to be a celebration, not a cemetery. To rectify this, I plan to reanimate great old shares from past Motherlodes by finding new blog posts with working links. Of course, these new offerings will go extinct sooner than later, so (referencing Manny Maris' beloved Prince Street record store of yore): Lunge—for your ears!
Kicking off this Frankensteinian effort is our lead item below, a fantastic compilation of Aboriginal country music first featured in the second-ever Mining the Audio Motherlode.
Re-unburied "Buried Country debunks the dominant myth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as exotic and tied to traditional music. The reality is that many are country people, and like rural and working class white Australians, have long found solace and creative expression in this American musical form. Buried Country shows how indigenous Australians have taken this cultural import and made it uniquely their own." (Description from Pluto Press)
