Stefan Schwander (Harmonious Thelonious) has a new label. It has released an infectious and dubwise 7″ with two cuts for the club or home. It’s quirky while also nodding to Rhythm and Sound, it’s got great squelch and lovely brass. The A side will serve DJs well. Check!
World Treasures Music on Soundcloud
Check out the World Treasures Music Soundcloud page, follow us for updates and music related to the site and the WTM shows on KMAH Radio are posted here.
This is in addition to the WTM Mixcloud page where there are mixes of music from around the world as well as the new WTM Legends series, so far featuring Erasmo Carlos (Brazil) and Hailu Mergia (Ethiopia).
Rockabilly meets flamenco and jazz on new Guadalupe Plata album for Everlasting Records
The Spanish trio of Guadalupe Plata are touring the UK and their self-titled LP is out at the start of June. Their influences are wide ranging – eclectic grooves, spaghetti westerns, Os Mutantes and dark blues.
Tour dates:
June 1st: Manchester The Soup Kitchen, June 2nd: Snaith Out To Lunch festival, June 3rd: Euston Red Rooster, June 5th: Newcastle Cluny, June 6th: Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s, June 7th: Leeds Brudenell, June 8th: London The Lexington, June 9th: Brighton Sticky Mike’s, June 10th: Bristol Louisiana, June 11th: Exeter The Phoenix.
The album is out on Everlasting Records on June 2nd.
The heavenly Como Mamas drop third LP for Daptone
Following the success of Get An Understanding and Como Now, the Como Mamas have established themselves as one of the premier gospel groups in the world.
Move Upstairs again features the supreme voices of Ester Mae Wilbourn, Della Daniels and Angelia Taylor and is out now on Daptone Records.
Photo by Aaron A. Greenhood
The Como Mamas are part of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. The non-profit group preserves American musical traditions with direct support.
Light In The Attic insight into the Colorado country funk and enigma of Tumbleweed Records
This sublime compilation on Light In The Attic showcases the very best of the Tumbleweed Records label and is out on Friday. The Tumbleweed label was founded in February, 1971, by Larry Ray and Bill Szymczyk. They had fled an earthquake and a debauched L.A. music scene to claim their own slice of utopia in Denver, Colorado. The pair met at ABC-Dunhill, where Ray was general manager and Szymczyk arrived after his first hit as a burgeoning engineer/producer with BB King’s The Thrill is Gone. In Denver, Ray and Szymczyk secured multi-million-dollar financing from Gulf + Western, where executives thought they were funding the “hippie movement’s next big thing”.
But instead of producing the next Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix, Ray and Szymczyk released music by innovators and idiosyncratic artists such as Pete McCabe, emotive songwriters like Robb Kunkel and Danny Holien, or psych-folk rocker Arthur Gee. They also released more established musicians like Albert Collins and Dewey Terry (of Don & Dewey fame), while launching the career of Michael Stanley.
Sadly, the label folded after two years and little commercial success – making it a perfect choice for Light In The Attic to shine new and deserved attention on this music.
Ray would go on to various opportunities, including producing five country albums alongside Bill Halverson, while Szymczyk would soon skyrocket to fame after producing The Eagles’ Hotel California.
Tour of Mogadishu by Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb and Cameroon comp news
Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb has unpacked some finds from a recent trip to Mogadishu and is preparing to drop a new compilation of music from Cameroon.
The tracklisting for the new compilation of Pop Makossa – The Invasive Dance Beat of Cameroon 1976–1984 looks absolutely monstrous bringing together rare and in demand records from artists such as Bill Loko and Eko.
It is out on June 16 and features: (1) Dream Stars – Pop Makossa Invasion (2) Mystic Djim & The Spirits – Yaoundé Girls (3) Bill Loko – Nen Lambo (4) Pasteur Lappé – Sanaga Calypso (5) Eko – M’ongele M’am (6) Olinga Gaston – Ngon Engap (7) Emmanuel Kahe et Jeanette Kemogne – Ye Medjuie (8) Nkodo Si-Tony – Mininga Meyong Mese (9) Pasteur Lappé – The Sekele Movement (10) Bernard Ntone – Mussoliki (11) Pat’ Ndoye – More Love (12) Clément Djimogne – Africa
The Mogadishu finds are revealed in the recent and brilliant radio show for Worldwide FM by the Analog Africa main man as he passed through London to master the forthcoming Cameroon compilation and play the Love & Unity Party as Analog Africa Soundsystem.
Another solid year for Analog Africa is in store.
Awesome Tapes From Africa reissue Umoja’s 707, South African music reigns and bubblegum is back!
The Awesome Tapes From Africa label returns after Brian Shimkovitz’s recent expedition to South Africa – resulting in this much sought after reissue of bubblegum music stars Umoja and their 1988 EP 707. The label boss and DJ also linked up with Johannesburg selector and Afro Synth record shop owner, DJ Okapi, to check out his rapidly renowned emporium.
The band’s ‘Om’ Alec Khaoli turned to the pure pop form during apartheid in the mid-‘80s and Umoja’s EP 707 was a chart-topping hit in 1988 that achieved double-platinum status. Bubblegum music was an extremely catchy township music with call-and-response vocals and synthesiser-led melodies.
Umoja translates as “oneness” or “unity” in Swahili. “Bubblegum music was about escape,” explains Khaoli. “If you had grown up in South Africa at the time, there was nothing more in your life than oppression. It was even in your dreams. Anything that was a way out was welcome…When this music was playing everyone just wanted to dance, just have a good time.”
Awesome Tapes From Africa will release Umoja’s 707 on LP/CD/Digital on May 5.
And while we’re at it, Brian posted this artifact recently:
