The Exciters - He's Got The Power (1963)

i don't understand why the exciters aren't more famous (or weren't during their time). He's Got The Power is a fucking riot, brenda reid's voice just nails that passionate, completely irrational, teen devotion to a fling.




for an equally awesome bonus track check Blowing Up My Mind in which she likens love for a guy to a gastro-intestinal problem (after eating too many beans). great stuff.


p

Burial - Truant / Rough Sleeper (2012)

New tunes from Burial.
I don't need to introduce it more than that do I?


Rough Sleeper:


Truant:



-L

Munir Bachir - Luth Solo "Oud" Recital A Geneve (1971)

the oud is a difficult instrument to play. after taking several oud lessons last year it dawned on me that for sub-par western guitar players the oud's mere shape is cause of concern (never mind the lack of physical frets), its bulky round body forbidding any comfortable playing position. unfortunately, like the arabic alphabet, the oud's shape and form are only the first real obstacles to playing the instrument. what follows is a maze of rhythms, patterns and cultural lyrical and musical references that i failed to get a grip on. understandably, i did not persevere.

a young m. bachir in 1937

iraqi-born oud maestro munir bachir did persevere. in fact, he brilliantly mastered the oud to the point of apparent time and space transcendence. bachir's skills are perfectly conserved in the following live recording in Geneve, Switzerland. the whole album is pure oud in all its solo glory and all tracks are mind-blowing; nonetheless, i've got special love for bachir's cover of asturias (aka spanish caravan by the doors). highly recommended.

find the whole album here, it's owed - as so many other great finds - to ghostcapital.

-p

George Mukabi - Bibi Mama Ngani Mzuri

Amazing African folk from Kenyan fingerstyle legend George Mukabi. His career spanned several years before his untimely death in 1963. In that time he only recorded around 30 songs, but they went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies in his native Kenya and beyond.

This track, Bibi Mama Ngani Mzuri, is simply wonderful. I first heard it on BassClef's excellent mix for Fact Magazine from some time ago which has a host of dizzyingly good African tunes - listen to that here.

-L

Can - I Want More (1976)

here's some brilliant frenetic energy by Can. the vocals were sung by all band members simultaneously, spawning a near-demonic mass chant driven by some of the best synth hooks ever. overall the whole thing feels like the manson family on mountains of coke laced with copious amounts of acid. in all seriousness though, beyond the cliché drug referencing, this song is fucking amazing.

also definitely check out the soundcloud track underneath, a slowed-down version concocted by Flash Strap that changes its character to a ridiculously chilled out tune.



mellow times:




p