https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M03_8cSw6AY

Madou formed in Belgium following the break-up of the Flemish folk band Rum in 1978. The group comprised Wiet Van De Leest and vocalist Vera Coomans, who met after Coomans joined Rum in 1975 along with bassist producer Sus Proost. Following Madou’s 1982 self-titled release, Van De Leest collaborated with Pas De Deux then took some time away from music to work as a park ranger before briefly reuniting with the members of Rum in 2005. Around that time, Belgian label Choux de Bruxelles reissued Madou’s album, including a new arrangement of the group’s other single, “Witte Nacht.” In 2010, Van De Leest helped compose a tribute to American folk musician Derroll Adams, who spent much of his life in Belgium, as part of the annual Ghent Festival.

Nicaraguan composer Alfonso Lovo’s music career had what some in the business might call a “rocky start” when he was shot in the hand while on a plane highjacked by sandinistas. He eventually found his way to Lousisiana State University and his hand must have really healed because while a student he recorded and released Terremoto Richter 6:25 Managua, featuring “Managua Nicaragua Blues,” in 1972. He also recorded “Freedom Fighters” in 1980 as part of the group Wolf and the Pack. Combining native Nicaraguan guitar, latin jazz, and funk he was able to put together sessions with some of Nicaragua’s top musicians including Santana percussionist José Areas. Although these sessions received a limited release after their recording,  Numero Group reissued La Gigantona in 2012. Enjoy!

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of this at Reckless Records on a whim and it has been one of my favorite records over the last few years. Transept are based out of Norwich, England and they run the appropriately-named Dronehenge Records  to release their material. This track is off their 2011 release and if you like what you hear above be sure to check out their 2013 Buff as Fuck release because it’s a great followup to this tremendous record. Phil Archer of Transept was a guitarist in Japanese/UK art-rock group Hyper Kinako, and some of the punchy threads in that group seem to have been picked up in Transept. Hyper Kinako, featuring Jane Pow member Phil Archer, put out a couple 7″ in 2003 and then disbanded. Transept has a great mix of heavy drones, jammy instrumentation, and a penchant for great song/album names which comes in handy when making this kind of music. If you order this record, you could win a bonus track!

One randomly chosen copy also comes with an absolutely one-off a cappella version of ‘Leopard Slug Love Song (live from Brokeback Mountain)’, double-etched (using a Wilcox-Gay Recordette) on to the silver side of a CD of Wham’s ‘Fantastic’.

So I was out and about this weekend and didn’t get a chance to do any tracks of the day but I thought I’d make it up by having a threesome with my computer and your eyes/ears and whatever internet service provider you are currently beholden to. These three tracks are pretty distinct but are all really great tunes so hopefully the wait was worth it.

Analog Players Society – I Can’t Wait

If anybody has never spent an entire weekend listening to Nu Shooz’s “I Can’t Wait” then I guess we have less in common than I thought. This is one of those songs that I’m positive most people have heard but have never sought out the name or artist of and I’m here to tell you that once you know how to find it, you won’t stop. That is if you don’t get hooked on the Analog Players Society version first! APS is a bit of a supergroup that coalesced around Studio Brooklyn and its head honcho, Amon. Featuring members of groups like TV On the Radio, Beirut, and Blitz the Ambassador as well as Amon himself, they have a pretty diverse output but most seems to fall within the dub, dancehall type stuff that admittedly I’m not super familiar with but I dig this cover a lot. The design of their physical releases seems to harken back to the glory days of soul 45s, and it’s hard to argue with the vibe either. I’m partial to the instrumental version but theres one with vocals too, both of which make me think of the first ten minutes of rap videos that take place in the summer where it’s just shot after shot of people sweating like they just finished the Cairo half marathon.

Speaking of old soul 45s…

The Revelations – Take Care of Us

While I await my bounty from the amazing moving sale that Numero Group was having this weekend, I dug into this Local Customs: Downriver Revival release and I think the above track is my favorite so far. Admittedly I did not pick up this compilation during the sale and the more I listen to it the sadder I am. Born just downriver from Detroit in Ecorse, Felton Williams and Moe Asch created a number of labels that produced a wide variety of acts and their output received the Numero treatment a few years ago. With hidden gospel gems, outtake jams, and an undeniable groove, this whole comp is pretty great but for me this track highlights what I love so much about Numero. When you hear songs like this, it’s just amazing The Revelations didn’t make money hand over fist when this was recorded.

Stag Hare – Vessel Part One: Pulse Cocoon

Moving to the more experimental end of the spectrum to round out this trifecta, Pulse Cocoon is a five movement reimagining of previously released material from a number of other of Stag Hare’s releases. Based out of Utah, Stag Hare has put out some physical releases on Oakland’s Inner Islands both in cassette and 12″ form. I’ve started listening to Spirit Canoes which is available on 12″ and is really excellent so far. One of the sources of Pulse Cocoon is the Tapestry project, which involves commissioned improvised pieces that, once completed, will be delivered as a digital file and a home-dubbed cassette tape. Unfortunately she is not taking commissions currently, but I’ll be checking routinely because the ones I have listened to so far have been great. I remember when I found Expo ’70 and realized how much he had already released and it was a great feeling to have so much music to explore and I feel the same way about Stag Hare.

Side B off a split release with Curb Cobain out on Dusseldorf’s Computer Beach, the depth of this track points, at least to my untrained ears, towards some cassette manipulation. Even if that isn’t how Quick Brown Fox made this rich droning track I’m saying it anyway, because I dig that sort of stuff a lot. It sounds like a bunch of monks performing Gregorian chant got ahold of a vocoder. Or like the Terminator 2 on the cover is coming through the web to find you. Enough with the stupid comparisons. Just find some time and enjoy!

Today’s Track of the Day comes from Starblood, a duo based out of Atlanta/California, according to their Facebook, off their July 2015 Station Identification EP. From what I can tell their output has a pretty interesting mix of long form ambient/drone works and shorter instrumentals. The shorter form pieces on this EP reminded me a lot of songs from Bibio’s excellent Vignetting The Compost release, especially “Dopplerton”.  I went with The Incredible Journey of Jewell Marceau because I found myself doing some mopey headbanging, which I always figure is a good sign. The guitar sounds also made me think of “Winners Take All” off one of my favorite records of recent years, Inner Tube’s self-titled release. Finishing this EP off with a rich drone like Ohr really seals the deal. Enjoy!

This medievalist psych gem comes from Blondi’s Salvation off their January 2014 self-released Crusades. According to the hilarious Google Translate they

originally formed Constant psychedelic ideology by its two intertwined visions. The son of imperturbable Puritan singer golds; jingles moving, medieval soloist guitarist.

I guess my work here is done! Truthfully, their blend of medievalism with sludgy psych probably should just speak for itself. I’ll just add that it’s like if a bunch of medieval peasants got together to take mescaline. According to their Facebook page they are constructing a new studio and have a new album, Wisdom Whisper coming out on Howlin Banana Records in the next few months.

I’m really fascinated by the medieval period, especially the music, which doesn’t get nearly as much exposure on classical stations as the big guys, especially Debussy. I took a road trip with my grandparents this year and we listened to classical radio the whole way, which involved tuning to a new station every two hours or so and every. station. we. listened. to. played. Debussy. Nothing against the guy, but I just wish there was more medieval music being played because the sparse arrangement and bizarre vocals are such a departure from much of the classical music canon. There’s a great Nonesuch release, The Pleasures of the Royal Court, that I picked up at a thrift store for a buck and it’s been worth every penny and then some. The music from the Spanish Court is my particular favorite.

Lest you think I spend the fall walking around a state park wearing medieval garb and calling everyone “m’lady,” rest assured I am not a Renaissance Fest person. Maybe if they got Blondi’s Salvation to play I’d grab myself a turkey leg, a mug of mead, and start stomping in the sawdust.

Released in 1981, Topia was Dimitris Papdimitriou’s first solo record but it kicked off more then 25 years of music, most released in (you guessed it) Greece. While studying law at the University of Athens, he composed music for stage productions and has been active musically since then. In addition to new age material like the above, he has scored many film and TV projects including something called Totally Married in which, according to IMDB:

Thomas and Lily, a couple in their mid-thirties with a child, are in the seventh “difficult” year of their marriage. The sudden departure of their household help sets off a chain of explosive situations. Lily refuses to take care of their child and their home. Thomas hires Irina, a 23 year-old foreign hooker, to help out.

I bet everything goes smoothly from there. Dimitris’ work has garnered six awards from the Greek film festival and numerous accolades from the Greek ministry of culture. Much of the rest of Topia consists of longer-form new age material but this uptempo jam reminds me a lot of Hideki Matsutake’s Logic System. The first track of his that came to mind was “Unit” and if you’ve never listened to Logic System I’d highly recommend it, especially for fans of Yellow Magic Orchestra. That last link is from their performance on Soul Train and it’s awesome.

If you are interested in hearing more of his work, it might be helpful to have the greek spelling of his name:

Δημήτρης Παπαδημητρίου

Dimitris Papadimitriou – Topia (Discogs)