Planet Waves

We're surfing a wave of brilliant new and recent releases, with many of them finding their way into this week's playlist. We'd like you to know about them too.

One record getting a lot of well-deserved attention is Tres Tres Fort by Congo's Staff Benda Bilili. Introduced to western ears by Crammed Discs' Vincent Kenis, the musical explorer who brought us the Congotronics sound (including Konono No. 1 and Kasai AllStars), the band consists of four homeless disabled singers/guitarists backed by a rhythm section of abandoned orphans. Their skiffling, rumba-flavored, acoustic-based music is not as apparently edgy as that of their Crammed labelmates, but they pull no punches with their lyrics as they address current social issues of health and homelessness in Congo, and have become a voice of the people. They're featured in some great videos on YouTube.

Strut Records, source of those great Nigerian comps, bring us Black Rio: Brazil Soul Power 1971-1980. Selected and mixed by DJ Cliffy, this is a very cool collection of the socially-biting music of black Brazilians during a particularly tumultuous era. With Jorge Ben, Banda Black Rio, Trio Mocoto, Toni Tornado and more. Seriously funky and full of soul.

Lost Souls, by England's Niraj Chag, uses tempting hooks, sparse South Asian percussion and delicate Indian lyrics to address the uncertainty of our times. It dances with pop beauty upon casual listening, but repeated listening reveals compositional depth and a well-developed vision.

Also new and requiring further examination: Mexican Insitute of Sound's Soy Sauce, Ping Kong from Duoud, Oreka TX from Spain's Basque region, and remixes by Balkan Beat Box. More to come on those.

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I was asked to review Juana Molina's latest release, Un Dia, for KGNU's Spring Program Guide. It came out in October and has received a lot of attention and play, so it's not exactly new. However, the assignment gave me good cause to spend some serious time with Ms. Molina's music, and one can never have too much of that.

Un Dia, Juana Molina’s fifth recording, is a sonic opiate. At turns and all at once, it thrills, massages, sedates and delights, extending a winning streak of enthralling releases dating back to her first (Rara). In her Buenos Aires backyard studio, she pipes childlike voice and acoustic guitar through electronic toys -- a marriage of wood, steel and circuits yielding hypnotic nursery rhymes and dark lullabies.

Molina’s acoustictronic trip begins with the title track. Repetitive incantations in front of assertive guitar and insistent electronic treatments build exquisite suspense to a liberating climax before giving way to the more melodic “Vive Solo”. On “Los Hongos de Marosa”, the centerpiece of Un Dia’s coffeehouse trance journey, Molina’s voice turns dreamily percussive, hovering just above her intricate treatments like fog over a morning meadow. “No llama” displays Juana’s evident guitar skill, and the closing “Dar (Que Dificil)” punctuates this entrancing suite with gothic folksiness, trippy subdued electronica and rhythmic finality.

Born into a family of musicians, Juana Molina walked away from her starring role in a hit Argentinean TV comedy to return to her musical roots, leaving behind certain success in the pursuit of her art. Good choice? The answer lies in the indelibly lush and personal imprint she leaves on every sculpted song.

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Here are some tracks from the above-referenced new releases, and the link to the 4 April edition of TerraSonic. Subscribe to the podcast from Underheard.org or the iTunes Store.

Staff Benda Bilili - "Avramandole" (from Tres Tres Fort)
União Black - "Black Rio" (from Black Rio: Brazil Soul Power 1971-1980)
Niraj Chag - "Vaani" (from Lost Souls)

TerraSonic - 04 April 2009