Jul 1, 2009

Episode Thirteen

Mayer Hawthorne is at it again with a new single “I wish it would Rain”. The track has a sound along the lines of his debut single “Just Aint Gonna Workout”, Detroit Flavor with a modern-retro twist. Hawthorne has a nice touch, and has developed a bit of a niche that stands apart from today’s pop and contemporary crowd. Another Goodie from Mayer Hawthorne.



Ant Trip Ceremony - Outskirts is the first song on their album 24 Hours that was released in 1968. The band was formed in Utah and named after a suggestion from a local English professor who had seen the term in a novel. The phrase was a description of modern human society. Their album was recorded in two sessions, the first in February 1968 and the second some months later.
Technical faults affected the recording: the KLH deck used for playback had a faulty right speaker and the mixdown was affected as a result with vocals sounding further back in the mix than originally intended. Originally only 300 copies of the album were pressed and sold. Now the reissued version is pressed on Resurrection.


With this release, Soul Jazz Records are reissuing a long lost album by The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, one of the most important and radical Jazz groups to come out of the USA. 'Les Stances A Sophie' was recorded in Paris in 1970 and features the regular Art Ensemble members (Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Flavors) alongside the newly recruited drummer Don Moye and Fontella Bass on vocals and piano. Fontella Bass (who was married to Lester Bowie) had a successful career as a soul singer ('Rescue Me' was her biggest hit in the sixties). The addition of these two performers maybe in some way explains the uniqueness of this recording, especially 'Theme De Yoyo' . Vocals (and lyrics) alongside a constant drum and bass beat were new elements to the recorded music of the Art Ensemble at this time. This recording would appear to contradict the AEC's desire for music to be heard and played simply as Sound with the freedom from accepted forms (ie Blues, Jazz etc) that were used to describe music. Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler were the forerunners of Free Jazz (The New Jazz).


Whirlwind Heat was first signed to Jack White's label, Third Man Records. Their sound is a bit like White's band (garage rock favorites the White Stripes), but with a Moog synthesizer taking the place of guitar. Featuring members David Swanson (vocals/synthesizer), Steve Damstra (bass), and Brad Holland (drums), the trio first got together to play music in 1996. Originating from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA area, the band took their name from infamous punk rock illustrator Raymond Pettibon (the phrase "Whirlwind Heats" can be found on Sonic Youth's 1990 alt rock classic Goo), and started out as a conventional guitar/bass/drum rock outfit. Eventually, the guitar was replaced by a Moog as the trio befriended indie rockers Arab On Radar, with whom they toured. In 2004 Flamingo Honey was released on Dim Mak/XL Recordings and Ice Nine is track eight on that album.


The Brain Police were an early psychedelic garage band who, in the late sixties, opened for many national acts, including the Who, the Byrds, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Steppenwolf, and Buffalo Springfield. After recording the unreleased album and failing to land a major-label contract, the frustrated band broke up at a local gig in which they opened for Steppenwolf. This unreleased LP was reissued on CD by Normal/Shadoks, as were songs cut for a 1969 single and poppier 1964-1966 cuts from singles by the Man-Dells and the Other Four (bands that Brain Police songwriters Norman Lombardo and Rick Randle played in prior to 1967).


1984 hails originally from Philadelphia, PA. Unfortunately, this record has never seen well distribution. Even in collectors circles this 45 is quite unknown. "There's a wrinkle in our time" side A is a fantastic funk tune with a groove that never stops! You must shake your hips while listening to it! No chance to keep still! It's amazing! The B-side, which has never seen the light of the day until this Tramp reissue, is an uptempo funk instrumental with a drum / percussion breakdown half through the song! Solid!

Set 1

J Dilla Beat Tapes vol. 1 - You're the One For Me Bobby
Mayer Hawthorne - I Wish it Would Rain
Art - Love is Real
Ant Trip Ceremony - Outskirts
Girolamo Ugolini - Ritmo D'Industria
Gagle - Kuro Fessional MC (instrumental)
Glue - Catch As...(Instrumental)
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Theme de Yoyo


Set 3

Rogers Sisters - Stop what you're doing in case of emergency
Whirlwind Heat - Ice Nine
Brain Police - I'd rather see you dead
The Broken Keys - Burnt Popcorn
Quantic Soul Orchestra - End of the road (feat. Alice Russell)
The Sweet Vandals - Wake Up!
1984 - Theme
Banda Los Hijos De La Nina Luz - El Sapo/Crees Que Soy Sexy





The amazing full length debut of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a cool combo from the Chicago scene who have been making some big waves around the world over the past few years! The approach to their music mixes spiritual jazz, deep funk, and elements of New Orleans music too - a really unique style that has earned the group's rare singles some tremendous praise. The set features guest appearances from Malcolm Catto, Tony Allen, Flea, and Damon Albarn -but the real strength of the record lies in the group's amazing horns and rhythms. More importantly I found the Marcus Garvey song this special Record Store Day LP. This LP Crashes Hard Drives is the! It’s a joint effort by some of the best retro-soul and reissue labels on this great spinning globe, including Numero Group, Daptone, Jazzman, Finders Keepers, Now Again, Light in the Attic and Vampi Soul, with songs ranging from middle-eastern psych to gospel on the other. if you're a follower of any of the labels involved, or you just live the thrill of discovering new (and sometimes old) music, you must go out and find it. This is the kind of record that reminds music lovers why we should keep searching and buying, and most importantly, keep listening - there's always something waiting to be found.




For anyone who stumbled across the 'Cherrystone' series and can't get enough Finders Keepers this is for you. it does get weird but trust, you won't be locked into a 15 minute prog, kraut epic. Give it a go and get a life change. This is Mr. Votel's first compilation for fat city recordings. On the album he features some of his favorite tracks which takes in productions from France, U.S , U.K, Germany, Turkey and Hungary and includes countless rare breaks & beats."Find it , buy it, play it !" It's fun.




P.E. Hewitt’s Winter Winds is one of the rarest damn-good 70s jazz albums you could ever hope to come across. There are many rare jazz albums in every imaginable subgenre – funk, free, fusion... But Hewitt, a composer, arranger, vibraphonist, pianist and pilot, helmed a crack group of musicians and recorded a damn-good album ... Without ever taking the time out to name his record company. His three albums – pressed in a maximum run of one hundred pieces per album – recently surfaced after Bay Area collector Chris Veltri re-discovered an old find and sent music detectives on the hunt. You see, Hewitt’s “Winter Winds” album so damn-good that neither a micro press nor forty years of silence could suppress its reemergence. Winter Winds, his third album, is the most “accessible” of the three Hewitt records. This is not to say that his previous albums are obscure, just to say that this album appeals to those who might want to dance while having their consciousness expanded. “Bada Que Bash” will appear on Now-Again’s forthcoming partnership-release with Jazzman Records – the expanded version of the label’s Spiritual Jazz anthology.

Maravilha! Domingas is a samba soul classic from Jorge Ben on quite possibly his greatest album ever, and a true treasure through and through! The tunes explode with an amazing sense of energy driven by Jorge’s great guitar and vocals, plus key percussive efforts that sound simply amazing, and create a unique undercurrent of funk. This is the album that set a whole generation on fire, and it’s probably still one of the most-copied moments of Ben’s long career. In contrast to the cerebral output of the Tropicalia camp in 1969, this album’s much more organic and personal yet no less revolutionary!


Verocai's 1972 album on Continental is a straight up Brazilian holy grail LP and personally, if you listen to how intricate his arrangements are, how brilliant his fusions of Brazilian and American styles come together here, you can understand why people jones for this album so badly.
I was lucky enough to see the album come to life when Verocai preformed in Los Angles early this year. The original album is phenomenal and was perfectly suited for the grandiose performance with a string section, horn section, percussionists, two keyboard players, two guitarists and alternating stand-up and electric bass . . . and most importantly the ensemble pulled it off perfectly. The performance sounded great. Secondly, it was staggering to think that this was the first time that these songs had ever been performed live and the second time they have been performed at all (the first time being in the studio and most likely that wasn't all 36 pieces playing live at the same time). Lastly, it was a great concept to take this relatively obscure document from 1972 performed in 2009 and restoring it to its deserved place in history. Bottom line is that this recording may be extremely obscure and therefore considered obscure, but the music is so good it deserves to be heard and in its original form, or better than that its original form performed LIVE!

Blues Creation formed in 1969 by vocalist and guitarist Kazuo Takeda and they debuted with an album containing covers of American blues, songs written by E. Clapton, J. Mayall among others. Carmen Maki and the Blues Creation is a rare as hell 1970 heavy rock guitar monster from Japan with the beautiful Carmen Maki. "Demon and Eleven Children" is not the only heavy album from these guys! This is every bit just as essential. It has some brutal non-stop wailing guitar! It also has some sweet mellow bluesy psychedelic rock numbers too. I am convinced that if the Blues Creation were in some other place of origin, such as England or the U.S., surely the album (DEMON & ELEVEN CHILDREN) would appear in any of those categories of "Best Hard Rock Albums... "

Set 2

Carmen Maki & Blues Creation - I Can't Live For Today
Demon Fuzz - Another Country
The Rapture - Confrontation
Faust - Party 2
Orient Express - Azaar
Bokaj Retsiem - I’m So Afraid
Unfolding - I Got a Zebra
Franz Auffray - Son Of Popcorn
Christine 23 Onna - Wild private


Set 4

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Marcus Garvey
Jack Hendrix' Tchick-Bams - Turnround
P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble - Bada Que Bash
Orlann Divo - Beleza Nao Vai Embora
Jorge Ben - Domingas
Arthur Verocai - Na Boca do Sol
Jose Mauro - Apocalipse