RECENT FAVES FROM THE RECORD LIBRARY- JULY 1999


As compiled by WFMU's Music Director Brian Turner


SPACEHEADS/Angel Station (Merge)
More greatness from Andy Diagram (trumpet/electronics) and Richard Harrison (drums/percussion); swirling, spiraling grooves that jump from gear to gear and continue to amaze. If This Heat decided to be a dance band? Recently wowed the masses at a recent WFMU benefit as well.

PONGA/Ponga (Loosegroove)
Had to follow this one up after the Spaceheads as they may share a similar vibe; this Wayne Horvitz/Bobby Previte project also throws jazz-element instruments into a blast-off realm with whooshing electronics and kinetic rhythms.

ENSEMBLE AL-TANBURAH/La Simsimiyya de Port Said (Institut Du Monde Arabe)
Amazing recordings of this Egyptian ensemble (ages from 20-70) under the direction of Zakaria Ibrahim. This joyful ritual is focused on the instrument known as the simsimiyya lyra, and each soloist takes a turn while remaining an egoless element of the group as a whole.

BORUK GLASGOW/Blackhole Boogie (Unknown)
A recent re-discovery at snagged at the FMU record fair and being enjoyed by the staff at large: Glasgow is a weedy-voiced, "intense" Lower East Side poet of the 70s who intones in a Bingo Gazingo-meets-Mark E. Smith mannerism; ranting over Santana records, whooping it up for Martha Reeves, or just addressing such topics as "Urban Antelope" and "Youth Poisoning". As Glasgow himself says "far F***ing out".

RAJESH MEHTA/Solos and Duos (Hatology)
Indian-born Mehta's explorations of free music and the trumpet take the groundwork laid by Don Cherry, Leo Smith, Bill Dixon etc. into an amazing new realm; his "hybrid trumpet" (rigged up with up to three instruments attached via tubing) and slide trumpet allow for microtonal possibilities and unlimited textures.

ALEJANDRA AND UNDERWOOD/Children's Record (Lucky Kitchen)
Technically yes, it is a children's record: recorded sounds of mostly NYC-kids singing, playing, reciting mixed in with skipping electronics, record store employees singing over store phone systems, alcoholic stepdads, TV themes, and "Nonstop Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star in Mandarin". A summer soundtrack of Lower East Side abstractness.

IMMORTAL/At the Heart of Winter (Osmose)
Swedish black metal titans sing lots of numbers about riding horses in the snow and fighting.

FELA RANSOME-KUTI & THE AFRICA 70/Confusion/Gentlmen (Barclay)
This French label has just reissued some of the most incredible 70s records by the late African-funk giant in two massive LP box sets. There are also the stray two-one-CD reissues, one of which has landed in the FMU new bin. These LPs (1974 and 1973 respectively) are wonderful, joyous, psychedelic explorations into the deepest of grooves.

LIGHTNING BOLT/Lightning Bolt (Load)
Jeezus H...these guys cleared the room at the FMU benefit last week and with good reason, they are loud as hell. Bass guitar up at 10, drummer freaking out like Animal from the Muppets after ingesting a mountain of coke, the 20 minute "Fleeing the Valley of the Whirling Knives" is a true masterpiece of noise rock. Clicking into a groove about 5 minutes in, this massive two-bass-note (adding a third about 12 minutes later)/drum-bashing epic caused several FMU listeners to run to our table at the Record Fair demanding it immediately.

ANTON MAIDEN/Anton Maiden (Nihilism)
Thank you to our friends at Aquarius in San Francisco for alerting us about this masterpiece: Anton Gustaffsson is a kid who lives in Sweden and LOVES Iron Maiden so much he sings over MIDI-composed versions of the songs he composed. He set up a website and someone basically downloaded the MP3's and put them on CD for us all to enjoy... "Die With Your Boots On" has already earned heavy play on Incorrect Music. I think it's really good myself.

ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN/How To Make a Monster (Victory)
One of the best punk rock bands from NJ are churning out record after record, and this one is yet another good one. Twin guitars attack with almost MC5-on-speed furvor.

VARIOUS/DJ Kicks-Thievery Corporation (Studio K7)
Another nice installment in the great DJ Kicks series (previously releasing sets by Andrea Parker, Kemistry and Storm and more) this one with leanings towards the duo's exotica-heavy collection.

TRALLALERI OF GENOA/Italian Treasury (Rounder)
At last, Rounder's Italian series of Alan Lomax recordings have surfaced after the amazing teaser cuts on 1997's sampler disc. These 1954 and 1955 recordings dig into the sounds of rural Italy (a "limitless pre-industrial and pre-national peasant world" according to writer/director Pier Passolini), and the five-part acapella polyphonies included herein sound like nothing else on the planet.

DR. DOOOM/First Come, First Served (Funky Ass)
This new Kool Keith project, along with the Sensational record on Wordsound are two of the year's most bizarre hip-hop records; not since the Bushwick Bill album has there been as much talk about cannibalism committed to a musical project.

ACID MOTHERS' TEMPLE AND MELTING PARAISO/Pataphysical Freak Out Mu! (PSF)
Second full-length album from Osaka group which is a perfect mid-point between two of the guitarist's other projects, Toho Sara (a trance-acid folk outfit) and Mainliner (total nonstop distorto-guitar-jams). The Temple builds from a base of gorgeous, repetitive jams into explosions of psychedelic fury complete with theremin and electronics. Recently did an incerdible session on WFMU's Stork Club.

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND/Grow Fins 1966-82 (Revenant)
Long-awaited 5 CD set of outtakes and rarities from the Beefheart camp, complete with entire instrumental rehearsal jams for Trout Mask Replica (according to the book, the Cap'n had locked the Magic Band up for months in a house to rehearse, living off macaroni and cheese); you're probably hearing this thing nonstop on FMU now. The radio sessions and live outtakes are especially great.


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