asseguèsse-ameguèsse

The title to today's post translates from the Kabylian as Happy New Year. Best wishes to all of you for a great celebration that continues well into 2007.

I'm thankful to live in an area of incredible beauty and relative peace during these incredibly interesting times. And I'm grateful for listeners like you. This music wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable without you to share it with.

Thanks for tuning in. See you next year/week. I leave you with the latest show. Enjoy.

TerraSonic - 30 December 2006

buenos dias, pere noel

Today's show is your audio companion to the 2006 Top 13 Albums for Snowbound Pleasure list I posted the other day. I hope at least one or two of them brought you some pleasure as well, snowbound or otherwise.

Have a fun, relaxing and safe Christmas holiday, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening.

TerraSonic - 23 December 2006

NOTE: I'll leave the file for last week's show up a little longer since I just posted it a few days ago. It likely won't be available as a podcast anywhere else so get it here if you're interested.

2-ft deep and rising

As of this writing, nearly two feet of snow has accumulated on the back deck, with the forecast calling for another 5"-10" by the time it's done Thursday afternoon. My 12-minute commute took 50 minutes (incl. 10 stuck), and now the Saab is parked in a snowdrift, buried to its hood. No getting to work in this official State of Emergency. Sleeping in, snowshoeing down the middle of the street, shoveling snow. I love it. If it has to be cold, let it snow.

Inspired by this fine display of nature's almighty power over us, I feel a year-end list forming, like a low-pressure system over eastern Kansas, pulling in moisture from the Gulf, slamming it into the Colorado Front Range and wringing those clouds out right on top of us. Maybe the cabin fever's setting in already. Without further ado, I present to you:

TerraSonic's 2006 Top 13 Albums for Snowbound Pleasure:

13. Various / Radio Algeria & Radio Thailand / Sublime Frequencies

Tune in "Disco Maghreb" and--voila!--you're on a balcony in Algiers, sipping tea and overlooking the Mediterranean. The Thailand set is postively humid. I can smell it. In every sense of the word, these recordings are a trip.


12. Novalima / Afro / Quango

On this festive joint, 4 producers from Lima join forces with some of Peru's legendary folk musicians, updating traditional Afro-Peruvian songs from as far back as the slavery era. Excellent production and crazy booty-shaking-ness.


11. Various / Rough Guide to Yodel / World Music Network

Francis Bebey's "Pygmy Divorce" alone is worth the price of admission on one of RG's more genre-mixing collections. Sainkho Namtchylak, Gillian Welch, Jimmie Rodgers and a dozen-plus others will have you thinking about yodel in new ways. Includes a "Yodeling Lesson".


10. Simon Diaz / Simon Diaz Remixed / unknown

A listener, Jose, called during a show last summer. He had just returned from his native Venezuela with a CD of remixes of the sublime Simon Diaz and offered to send me a copy. Google searches on this are pretty fruitless, but I'll play it for you as much as I can. Thanks, Jose.


9. eccodek / More Africa In Us / White Swan Records

Full disclosure: in my dayjob I manage the record label that put this out. That doesn't mean I can't dig it though. This is an afro-dub dream done elegantly. And, as the label guy, I can attest that it's just a taste of what's to come on eccodek's next one, Voices Have Eyes.


8. Juana Molina / Son /Domino

In a New York Times piece on Juana, they visited her home studio in Argentina. From the description, it sounded like a life-sized, handmade musicbox. This record was made there.



7. Auktyon / Pioneer / Circular Moves

As it turns out, this powerfolk band has been together for over 20 years and is a big deal back home in Russia. This record pulls together tracks from their dozen or so releases. From one track to the next, it's like the best Russian hockey: multi-faceted, unpredictable and hugely entertaining.


6. Miguel Anga Diaz / Echu Mingua / World Circuit

With its (mostly-) trad son, straight-outta-Havana hip hop, dynamite conga explosions and a moving version of "A Love Supreme", this record leaps out as one of the best in the post-Buena Vista era of Cuban music. Sadly, that's all we get. Anga passed away unexpectedly last summer. He was 45.


5. Natacha Atlas / Mish Maoul / Mantra

Early collaborator Count Dubulah from Temple of Sound returns to the controls, striking a balance between soft and slamming and resulting on Ms. Atlas' best record in years. I've always loved how classic she sounds in a traditional setting, as captured here on a few pieces, namely "Yariet".


4. Cheb i Sabbah / La Ghriba (La Kahena Remixed) / Six Degrees

For La Kahena, Chebiji, the original DJ, returned home, scouring the Maghreb for its finest voices, then put his heart, soul and best beats into a love letter to/from North Africa. Now, those same tracks are remixed here by a hand-picked group of his proteges and inspirees.


3. Various / Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound / Soul Jazz

I fawned over this one pretty well last week and don't want to overdo it. But if you're looking for a surefire crowd pleaser of a record, this one's about as close as it gets to a sure thing.



2. Cyro Baptista / Love the Donkey / Tzadik

Yes, we do love the donkey, Cyro. Possibly my favorite record to come from John Zorn's relentlessly adventurous label. Baptista and his band careen through assorted styles, rhythms and sounds with ease, expertise and apparent, infectious joy.


1. Instituto Mexicano del Sonido / Mejico Maxico / Nacional Records

Ciudad Mexico tastemaker Camilo Lara, using only his computer, his extensive vinyl and his mind, concocts this astonishing debut. Samples laced through roller rink organs, shuffling drums, low rider beats and other sound interpretations of the City of Hope.

And there you have it. A fine set of records from a year that was interesting, though I'm sure not nearly as fascinating as 2007 will turn out to be.

Whatever your New Year philosophy, have a great holiday and thanks again (and again and again) for tuning in. Here's to what comes next...

(And here's last week's show. Sorry for posting so late.)

TerraSonic - 16 December 2006

A conversation with Lura

Following the path of "barefoot diva" Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean singer Lura is the best-known of a new generation of musicians from the West African island nation. I had the opportunity to speak with Lura in advance of her return to Denver on Saturday night.

You can listen to the interview here.

Lura performs Saturday, 16 December, at 8pm at the Master's Bible Church, 1477 S. Columbine in Denver. For more information and tickets, contact the Swallow Hill Music Association, 303 777 1003.

Marhabahia

Someone once told me that windborne Saharan sands sometimes blow westward across the ocean, depositing in Brazil. I was skeptical, but as it turns out, it's true. In fact, that sand is an essential source of nutrients in Amazon rainforest soil, and those wind patterns may have everything to do with the severity of the Atlantic hurricane season. Fascinating, eh?

As part of this month's reminiscence of some of 2006's finer releases, we look at the highlights from the (loosely defined) second quarter. That these records all have North African or Brazilian origins is partly coincidental, partly revealing of my apparent bias for those styles.

I've already written about a couple of these records: Cheb i Sabbah's magnificent La Ghriba, a collection of remixes from his 2005 release, La Kahena, and the latest effort from the lovely Natacha Atlas, Mish Maoul. Both hold up well with repeated listening. "Hayati Inta" from Ms. Atlas is one of my favorite songs of the year, all medina attitude, big bass line and solid beats. It's a nice contrast to the more acoustic sound she's been bringing to her live shows lately. The Chakadoons' remix of Chebiji's "Toura Toura" is exciting not just for the new perspective on the track, but also for the discovery (mine, anyway), of this LA-based production team.

On the Brazilian side, I got a lot of mileage this year out of Love the Donkey, from Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based bizarro Cyro Baptista and his ensemble, Beat the Donkey. I've heard Baptista's name for years, as his session work reads like a Who's Who of contemporary music, but it was catching them live at the inaugural GlobalFest that really got my attention. The stage set was a junkyard of found instruments. The sounds elicited from them by Baptista and Co. were incredible to hear and truly a sight to behold. While the CD, from John Zorn's Tzadik label, is missing the visual dimension, the music is there with all its crafty charms. "Tap on the Cajon" and "Caboclinho" are but two of the highlights from this immensely engaging record. There's also a decent version of Led Zep's "Immigrant Song".

But my favorite record from the 2nd quarter and maybe for the whole year is Tropicalia, a brilliant compilation from Soul Jazz. Subtitled "A Brazilian Revolution In Sound", this collection is a revelation in sound as well. Triggered in 1968 as a response to Brazil's military junta government and the Brazilian establishment in general, the Tropicalismo in many ways mirrored the domestic upheaval occuring in the US at the same time. The movement so empowered the Brazilian citizenry that it's leading fomenters, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, were exiled to London. The movement itself may have been short-lived, but the music still lives and breathes, as evidenced by every single track on this comp. In addition to Veloso and Gil, MPB legends Tom Ze, Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben and the incomparable Gal Costa lend tracks that are soulful, hard-hitting, timeless, edgy and fun. I really can't single out tracks here--they're all amazing. Run right out and get this one today.

Next week, we'll look back with longing at some of our favorites from Q3 '06. Until then, please consider checking out some of the above. Below, you'll find the link to our most recent program. (Playlist is here.)

TerraSonic - 09 December 2006

BTW--I'm always interested in hearing from you, the listener/reader. It's all about you, after all. What were your favorite records/tracks/artists in 2006? Talk to me, people...

That "time" has come

End of the year's approaching so it must be "best of" list time. I'm not a big fan of rankings but I do like to take a look back at the year's highlights before turning my attention to the new year's first releases. Over the next few weeks, I'll remind you of some particularly noteworthy titles (noteworthy to me, anyway), and end the year with a top-something list.

This year began with the debut by Miguel "Anga" Diaz'. Echu Mingua is a solo outing every bit as adventurous and auspicious as that of his frequent collaborator, the great bassist Orlando Cachaito Lopez. Anga's blanket of Cuban conga magic covers a slew of settings and styles ranging from the slow boiling "A Love Supreme" to the freely flowing "Freeform". In addition to Cachaito, guests include Mali's Baba Sissoko and pianist Ruben Gonzalez. Dee Nasty adds turntable cha cha cha. Echu Mingua trumpets the arrival of the new garde in Cuban jazz. Sadly, it will have to stand as the final document from a musician hitting his stride. On August 9th, Anga Diaz passed away suddenly. He was 45.

Another early '06 release that I still cannot get enough of is Mejico Maxico by the Instituto Mexicano del Sonido (Mexican Institute of Sound). Every bit as experimental as their kindred souls and labelmates in the Nortec Collective, on this beautiful record MIS combine dub, groove, lounge, rock and electronic styles and sounds into the whole enchilada. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not into ranking, but if I were this one would be a contender for top slot. Trust me on this one.

We'll get to some more releases in next week's post. For now, I hope you'll consider either of the above, and enjoy this week's show. Here's the playlist.

TerraSonic - 2 December 2006