Thai Music

Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin’s debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. The Texan trio is formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums.

A whole sociological study could probably be based around Saigon Rock & Soul, a double-album compilation of killer Vietnamese pop/rock tracks from the late ‘60s to mid-‘70s, but that will be left to more academically minded types in order to focus on the music at hand. The tunes included here were surely the product of Western music's influence, as American soldiers brought the sounds of U.S. rock, pop, and soul along with them over the course of the Vietnam War. By the late ‘60s, a whole subgenre of than nac ("modern music") had emerged, as hordes of young Vietnamese musicians absorbed and emulated the music that arrived from overseas. Besides local clubs, many of the artists featured here performed – and often recorded – at U.S. army bases, where the soldiers made up a major portion of their fan base.

The Group released one album in 1978 and later evolved to the Pekka Pohjola Group. Double digipak CD. The 2nd disc features an extended studio session with the Sibelius academy orchestra plus two studio outtakes from the original album. Highly influenced by Weather Report and the jazz fusion scene of the 70s, The Group was set up after Pekka Pohjola and Vesa Aaltonen came back to Finland from Sweden. They both played in the Swedish prog/jazz rock band Made in Sweden. As The Group’s guitarist Seppo Tyni remembers, Aaltonen came back to Finland in early 1977 and Pohjola later in the summer. From the early 1977 Aaltonen and Tyni both played in Olli Ahvenlahti Quintet that for example performed at the Finnish Eurovision qualification (though they played as a quartet there)…

The Group released one album in 1978 and later evolved to the Pekka Pohjola Group. Double digipak CD. The 2nd disc features an extended studio session with the Sibelius academy orchestra plus two studio outtakes from the original album. Highly influenced by Weather Report and the jazz fusion scene of the 70s, The Group was set up after Pekka Pohjola and Vesa Aaltonen came back to Finland from Sweden. They both played in the Swedish prog/jazz rock band Made in Sweden. As The Group’s guitarist Seppo Tyni remembers, Aaltonen came back to Finland in early 1977 and Pohjola later in the summer. From the early 1977 Aaltonen and Tyni both played in Olli Ahvenlahti Quintet that for example performed at the Finnish Eurovision qualification (though they played as a quartet there)…

A. R. Rahman - Vande Mataram (1997) {Sony-BMG 488709 2 feat. Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 261 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb
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© 1997 Sony BMG Music (India) | 488709
Indian Music / Patriotic / Indian Raga / World Music

"Vande Mataram" became a Sanskit rallying cry for freedom in the early 1900s, as Indians protested against the partitioning of Bengal and its use as the title for the first international release by Ar Rahman, one of India's most popular contemporary recordings artists, is appropriate. Vande Mataram was released to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence from colonial Britain and it also was designed to introduce the western world, particularly the United States, the wonders of modern Indian music and culture.

Jah Wobble & Evan Parker - Passage To Hades (2001) {30 Hertz Records 30HZCD14}
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© 2001 30 Hertz Records | 30HZCD14
Experimental / Dub / Avant-Garde / Saxophone

Taking as their inspiration the Greek myth of Orpheus, European improv king Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxophone) and Invaders of the Heart alumni Clive Bell and Jean-Pierre Rasle invest in a series of stark, repetitive bass and drum structures on Passage to Hades. At the music's core is the rhythm axis of Jah Wobble and Mark Sanders. The duo maps out the territory, delivering all that's required and more through minimal means. It's a refreshing change of scenery for Parker, who's normally heard in avant-garde ensembles or blazing solo performances. Here, he's confined to a stark, muscular groove and he responds beautifully. Like the later recordings by John Coltrane (an early influence), the saxophonist unleashes an abundance of dialog on his instruments, though he never quite reaches the torrents of sound one might expect.

The Art Ensemble of Chicago - We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (2019) {Pi Recordings}
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© 2019 Pi Recordings
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Composition

The Art Ensemble of Chicago has been at the forefront of creative improvised music since 1969, and has long served as the flagship ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the august Chicago-based organization that also fostered the careers of members such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and Wadada Leo Smith, among many others. The greatness of the Art Ensemble has always been the shared commitment of its original members – Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, and Famoudou Don Moye – to the total realm of African diasporic music: what they have long-termed “Great Black Music—Ancient to the Future.”