Regrettably, the links to these have gone bad, which I assume means somebody out there doesn't want them up. Fair enough, but it's too bad more people won't get to hear these. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For my first (and extremely long overdue) post on hip hop I bring you some rare mixtapes from my number 1 favorite producer/DJ, Madlib, aka the Beat Konducta and a thousand other aliases. Actually, there's so little official information out there about these tapes that their authenticity has been disputed. They sound like the real deal to me though - the left-field loops, crackling jazz samples, smoked out interludes and obscure vocal recordings all scream Beat Konducta.
All the information you need to know about these, including partial (sometimes complete) tracklists and some really cool photos, can be found on this website. Here are some brief descriptions of mine of each installation.
Vol. 1 is mostly a Stones Throw sampler, featuring remixes of tracks by Madvillain, Quasimoto, Oh No, MED, Wildchild, and others, but also including material by Method Man, Common, and Bobby Hutcherson.
Vol. 2, one of the best in the series, is a jazz mix featuring some scorching 70's fusion, Brazilian jazz, impassioned spoken word and trips to outer space.
Vol. 3 is an eclectic selection of dub, jazz, comedy recordings, psychedelic soul, and much more - another standout.
Vol. 4 focuses on hip hop, and includes a set of Nas vs. Jay Z remixes.
The first long track on Vol. 5 is called "Dirty Crates from Around the World". The second is a live set with some great chopped up Dilla tracks, and closing with Madvillain's "Closer" given jazz horn treatment.
Now that I've (finally!) opened the hip hop floodgates, prepare to see a lot more of this incredibly dynamic and progressive genre on Giraffe Kingdom.
Shrinebuilder is a metal supergroup comprised of members of Om, Neurosis, The Melvins, The Hidden Hand and Sleep. (!) ((!!!!)) Recorded in just 3 days, their debut album has it all - psychedelic riffing, ominous chanting, and some serious fuzzed-out bliss (The long vamp in the second half of opener "Solar Benedicition" is a big highlight). Highly recommended - this album is sure to please fans of any of the member's former projects.
From their label, Neurot Records:
There are moments [as they are and as we configure them] strung together amidst all of our other moments of slow growing awareness, when the tectonic shifting of who we think we are gets overcome and overwhelmed by who we really are. And IF we are lucky, it happens without too much bloodshed.
It births, it dies, it lives without bloodshed for the rare and sainted few.
For the rest of us it happens to us [and not for us]. And it is accompanied by a quickening purpose and transcendent understanding of our goddamned place in space: we build our places of worship up on high for a reason, and SHRINEBUILDER -- created by Al Cisneros, Scott "Wino" Weinrich, Dale Crover and Scott Kelly - shares the season and the reason: because it is closer to the gods.
So it was that the calling was answered as simply as a phone call could have been and was made. Cisneros called Weinrich, Kelly, and later Crover and decided, in full-blown ex nihilo fashion to make some music beyond the summed parts of all what had been done before and in doing so rediscover why it had been done in the first place. Beyond the parts, beyond beyond, and here descriptors that you will read every OTHER place but that go without saying here...crushing, killing and heavy, heavy, heavy...seem somehow too much and not enough.
It is Wagnerian. It is Iommic. It is simply: SHRINEBUILDER.
Now Manson [Charles, not Marilyn] once said to us, "there are only two ways to get to the cross...you get dragged...or you go along."
And here, in the spirit of the contrary, is a third: SHRINEBUILDER.
Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band was responsible for creating some of the most deeply explorative and emotionally charged music of the early 1970's electric jazz fusion explosion, and probably ever. The original band on the self-titled debut, recorded in October through December of 1969, consisted of Herbie Hancock (Mwandishi) on rhodes, Bennie Maupin (Mwile) on bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo, Eddie Henderson (Mganga) on trumpet, Julian Priester (Pepo Mtoto) on trombone, Buster Williams (Mchezaji) on bass, and Billy Hart (Jabali) on drums, along with an assortment of supporting musicians, including the illustrious saxophonist Joe Henderson. The music for the most part featured spacey, abstract improvisations from the rhodes and horns over earthy, rhythmic ostinatos from the bass and drums. Crossings added Dr. Patrick Gleeson on synths, launching the band into exotic new galaxies of sound that would be explored further on Sextant. Despite the incredible inventiveness of the music, none of these albums were commercially successful, and the band officially broke up before the release of Herbie's crossover megahit Head Hunters. At least, that's how I thought the story went, until I discovered just days ago that the Mwandishi band recorded two additional little known albums, released under Eddie Henderson's name. The lineup on these albums is essentially unchanged, with the exception that Julian Priester is replaced by the great drummer Lenny White on Realization, and by Weather Report's drummer Eric Gravatt and the Head Hunters conga player Bill Summers on Inside Out.
The band really hit their stride with Crossings and kept it up to Realization, though the debut and Inside Out are also fascinating to hear and light years beyond what most fusion bands were doing following the release of the genre's catalyst, Bitches Brew. Listen to all five of these in a row, and you can consider yourself a black belt in interdimensional time travelin' jazz funk.
Here's a reasonably straight-ahead but still adventurous and forward-looking Blue Note album led by the criminally underrated pianist Horace Parlan, who is perhaps best known for playing on the masterpiece Mingus Ah-Um. When he was young, Parlan was stricken with polio, which left his right hand crippled; but this did not deter him from striving for a career in jazz piano. On the contrary, Parlan's weakened right hand caused him to develop a particularly strong and unique left hand style, featuring highly percussive attacks from big blocky extended chords. His right hand ultimately ended up more than up to par as well, contributing agreeably loose and buoyant melodic ideas. On this album, Parlan teams up with the always cool guitarist Grant Green, veteran drummer Billy Higgins, Mingus-associates Johnny Coles (trumpet) and Booker Ervin (tenor sax), and the bassist and rock solid sideman Butch Warren, who's played with Miles, Monk, Herbie, Dexter Gordon, and many others. In other words, a first-rate band.
This is the type of bebop I love most - all the players are in tight form, hitting the bluesy and soulful chord changes accurately, but still playing with loads of character and taking their solos into daring territory. Most of all, they just sound cool as all hell and like they're having a great time. This is a perfect lemonade-on-your-porch-in-the-summertime type of album, and it's a must have for any fan of the classic Blue Note sound. For me it's easily on the level of albums as lauded as Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil (actually, I like it more than both), though for whatever reason it's far less well known. Mellow, playful, and just brilliant all around.
Here's an album I've been meaning to blog about for some time, Oorutaichi's Drifting My Folklore from 2007. I don't know much about Oorutaichi, other than that he's a Japanese solo artist/DJ who cooks up some seriously zany acid cartoon music. If you thought that was Cornelius's shtick, prepare to experience new levels of zany acidity - Drifting My Folklore comes bursting at the seams with mutated disco, freak funk, twisted pop hooks, synths and turntables galore, hypnotic grooves, and utterly bizarre vocal melodies that shouldn't work but somehow do. Rarely are albums simultaneously as strange and catchy as this one. Given the overwhelming number of different musical ideas that transpire throughout it, one must really admire Oorutaichi's flawless sense of craft in arranging so many instruments and studio effects into something cohesive, without a moment sounding out of place. (Then again, what could sound out of place on an album like this?) The studio tricks in particular are frequently mindbending and worthy of Nobukazu Takemura at his best. In the end there's probably no describing this album, so let's just say I can comfortably imagine alien robots doing their morning workout routine to it, and leave it at that.
Aside, Oorutaichi contributed one of the best tracks on Shugo Tokumaru's 2009 release Rum Hee, a remix of Shugo's song of the same name.
I just found out that 5 days ago was the late Toru Takemitsu's 79th birthday, so here's a belated dedication and celebration post. I bring you quite a large collection of instrumental and choral works by the visionary man Wikipedia documents as Japan's first international composer:
In the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957 listen (help·info)) was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put on by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed his admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing.[14] Stravinsky subsequently invited Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience.[15] After Stravinsky returned to the U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which, he assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland.[15] For this he composed Dorian Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Copland.
Takemitsu later became a close personal friend of John Cage, who encouraged him to embrace his nation's musical traditions for the first time, leading to a new stylistic period combining ancient Japanese and Western avant garde ideas. At the same time, Toru was also highly conscious of Western popular music, as evidenced by his many guitar transcriptions of Beatles and jazz songs.
This collection is actually the second installment of an even larger group of recordings of Takemitsu's music, called the Complete Takemitsu Edition. From what I can tell, Edition 1 consists of his orchestral works, Editions 3 and 4 cover his film works, and Edition 5 is made up of popular songs, tape, and theatre works. Supposedly the entire collection goes for around $1,000. Here's what we have on Edition 2, the instrumental and choral works:
Disk 1 1.Romance 2-3. Lento in Due Movimenti 4. Distance de Fee 5-7. Pause Ininterrompue 8-10. Le Son Calligraphie I, II, III 11. Masque 12. Landscape 13. Piano Distance Download
Disk 2 1. Ring for flute, terz guitar and lute 2. Corona for one or more pianists 3. Sacrifice for alto flute, lute and vibraphone with antique cymbals 4. Sonant for 2 flutes, violin, violoncello, guitar and 2 bandoneons 5. Hika for violin and piano 6. Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi 7. Cross Talk for 2 bandoneons and tape music Download
Disk 3 1. Stanza I 2. Valeria 3. Seasons 4. Munari by Munari 5. Voice 6. Eucalypts II 7. Stanza II Download
Disk 4 1. Distance for oboe with or without sho 2. For Away for piano 3. Voyage for biwa 4. Garden Rain for brass ensemble 5-7. Folios for guitar Download
Disk 5 1. Bryce 2. Waves 3. Quatrain 2 4. Waterways 5. Les yeux clos 6. Les yeux clos II Download
Disk 6 1. A Way a Lone for string quartet 2-4. Toward the Sea for alto flute and guitar 5. Rain Tree for 3 percussion players 6. Rain Spell for flute, clarinet, harp, piano and vibraphone 7. Rain Tree Sketch I for piano 8. Rain Tree Sketch II, In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen for piano Download
Disk 7 1. Cross Hatch for marimba and vibraphone 2. Rocking Mirror Daybreak I, Autumn for violin duo 3. Rocking Mirror Daybreak II, Passing Bird for violin duo 4. Rocking Mirror Daybreak III, In The Shadows for violin duo 5. Rocking Mirror Daybreak IV, Rocking Mirror for violin duo 6. From far beyond the Chrysanthemums and November Fog for violin and piano 7. Orion for violoncello and piano 8. Entre-temps for oboe and string quartet 9. Rain Dreaming for cembalo Download
Disk 8 1. Signals from Heaven I, Day Signal 2. Signals from Heaven II, Night Signal 3. All in Twilight I for guitar 4. All in Twilight II for guitar 5. All in Twilight III for guitar 6. All in Twilight IV for guitar 7. Toward the Sea III Part I for alto flute and harp 8. Toward the Sea III Part II for alto flute and harp 9. Toward the Sea III Part III for alto flute and harp 10 Itinerant, In Memory Of Isamu Nogutchi for flute 11. Litany I, In Memory Of Michael Vyner for piano 12. Litany II, In Memory Of Michael Vyner for piano 13. A piece for guitar For The 60th Birthday of Sylvano Bussotti 14. And then I knew 'twas the Wind for flute, viola and harp Download
Disk 9 1. Equinox 2. Between Tides 3. Paths 4. A Bird came down the Walk 5. In the Woods I 6. In the Woods II 7. In the Woods III 8. Air Download
Disk 10 1. Bad Boy for 2 or 3 guitars 2-3. Piano Pieces for Children 4. A Boy Name Hiroshima for 2 guitars 5. Le Fils des Etoiles for flute and harp 6-17. 12 songs for guitar 18. The Last Waltz for guitar 19. Golden Slumbers for piano 20. Herbstlied for clarinet and string quartet Download
Disk 11 1. Wind Horse I 2. Wind Horse II 3. Wind Horse III 4. Wind Horse IV 5. Wind Horse V 6. Grass 7. Handmade Proverbs I 8. Handmade Proverbs II 9. Handmade Proverbs III 10. Handmade Proverbs IV 11-22. Songs for mixed chorus Download
There are too many excellent pieces here to really name highlights, but I'm particularly fond of the Piano Pieces for Children, Toward the Sea for alto flute and harp, the guitar songs, and the astoundingly gorgeous songs for mixed chorus, which to me almost sound like otherworldly slave spirituals.
Uploaded by request, this challenging Tzadik album is a little difficult to categorize. Some of the labels I was tempted to give it included free jazz, modern jazz, improvisation, and noise, but none of these are quite right. What we really have here is a set of ultra-complex etudes for piano and drums, which often sound improvisational or "jazzy" but were really composed with extreme care and attention to detail. Performing these are two of the most adventurous and capable musicians to rise out of Japan's avant garde scene, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins fame. After one listen to Erans, one thing is clear: Fujii and Yoshida did a lot of rehearsing for this album. Their stop-on-a-dime changes in tempo, meter, and dynamics are timed with perfection, and they don't falter once in playing through the songs' baffling structures.
This album is not for the faint hearted. The songs are fiery, menacing, relentlessly energetic, generally atonal, and nearly impossible to swallow all at once. Multiple listens reveal many subtle intricacies in their form, harmony, emotional content, and so forth, but they never lose their visceral nature, or their ability to quickly exhaust the listener. Even if you never listen to it from start to finish, this is a must hear.
Artists, send any requests for the removal of album download links to TheSoftWatch@gmail.com and I will do so immediately. Note that no albums are hosted on Giraffe Kingdom, and the links are only shortcuts that anybody could find elsewhere with a little work. We believe from the heart that online media sharing ultimately benefits artists.
