An old mix...

From my days at longplayers.tumblr.com...

Time is Tight Mix by Rsmclaughlin0 on Mixcloud

Thwarted for tonight...

And I was so excited to share a record I found tonight...oh well, when I ripped it to my computer, something went wrong in the process and two tracks sound awful.

Watching this didn't do much to help my spirits. Important stuff...

I'll try again tomorrow. I've been lagging on the site lately, but I have a lot to share coming up!

Here's a taste of something that will be coming very soon...

Co La - Love Nest (from "Soft Power Memento," NNA Tapes/Hands in the Dark)

(I wouldn't feel right posting this album, as it's relatively new and the artist should be able to profit from his work. But, to get the word out, an amazing track that shows how far this project has come and is going... Fans of his former project Ecstatic Sunshine take note!)

Seefeel - Quique (Too Pure, 1993)

So, there I was, looking in google images for a cover shot of this album, and whose copy should I stumble upon but Tim's over at the excellent Invisible Arteries blog... So, this post might be a little redundant, but, I really love this album and want to tell you about it. Make sure to follow the link at the bottom to check out his original post and get it there if you want. Look around too! Plenty to be found.

So, this is a kind of guitar album I'd like to make one day - where the guitars, for the most part, don't sound like guitars, like rather like e-bow tones, effect-ed loops, phasing in and out around nice bass hooks reminiscent of everything I like in early '90's British alternative - Slowdive, Primal Scream, Cocteau Twins... Add to that some breathy female vocals and pleasantly simple drum machine beats, and you've got yourself a record!

Here's a link to their wiki - Seefeel's still putting out music, pretty solid stuff, too. And a sample video:

Enjoy here, or at...

http://invisiblearteries.blogspot.com/2012/08/seefeel-quique-1993.html

Jean-Michel Jarre - Zoolook (Disques Dreyfus, 1984)

I found out about this choice album via the choice blog of former Baltimore-on Jason Urick, quite the significant electronic musician in his own right. Here's the video that turned me on, because I can only hope you love it as much as I do: 

So, as you could tell from that tasty tidbit, this album is about vocal samples, serious vocal samples. I'm talking keyboard transposition, people! That amazing feature we all loved to utilize after recording ourselves saying "hello" on our Casio SK-1's. 

Not knowing too much about Jean-Michel, I am thoroughly impressed that he and inimitable French-English actress Charlotte Rampling are married! She seems so somber; I hope she likes watching his ethnicolor (whatever that means) music videos.

ENJOY

Eddie Palmieri - Justicia (Tico, 1969)

Because we're all in a festive mood right now, at the end of Election Day...

A beautiful album that just may get me started on a love for Latin jazz one of these days. Thank you for the recommendation back in the day, Dr. Jazz @ Sound Garden Baltimore! As I listen to the lyrics of "Everything is Everything" right after hearing Obama's victory speech, here's hoping for the next four years...

Here's a youtube preview of one of my favorite cuts from the album, "My Spiritual Indian":

Celebrate!

Kenji Omura - Spring is Nearly Here (Alfa, 1981)

A day late, but if you stuck around for the second post, hopefully it's worth the wait.

A record that sounds effortless, as if the synth tones, beats and guitar lines stretched themselves across the mix of their own accord. Really, who records albums like this? So crisp. Definitely the right album to play in these first autumn breezes, windows down a crack, cruising the streets of LA. Sure makes that stop-and-go a lot less noticeable. 

YMO-related post no. 1, look for more ahead.

Enjoy!

Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited - Mabasa (Earthworks, 1984)

In the spirit of eclecticism, I'll make posts today (as in more than one) (I hope), of music from two parts of the world that come together in that they often are very close to each other in playlists of mine. Especially in this never-ending summertime of la-la-land that is only now giving signs of autumn temperatures... 

From the first notes of this one, you're dancing. But Mapfumo and Co. know how to slow it down, there are some great ballads here, too. I really enjoy the mix of mbira and guitar you find on "Chemera Chaunoda," where Mapfumo sounds a lot like the singers on the Nonesuch Explorer album "Africa: Shona Mbira Music," my first African music purchase (besides Fela Kuti, maybe). Which makes sense, as Mapfumo and his group are from Zimbabwe, still known as Rhodesia when Paul Berliner recorded the music for the Nonesuch album. Given the lyrical content, it would seem that in 1984, all was not well with the people of post-independence Zimbabwe...a call to learn more. 

Here's a picture of the back cover, which gives you track titles and convenient English translations of lyrics:

Enjoy!