THE DARKSIDE OF RAVE II

Mega City 2 - Dark Child (1993)

From a 1992 dubplate that was eventually released commercially a year later on the Demon By Daylight EP.  A haunting girls choir sing hymn-like melodies, occult-y percussion, dialogue from Children Of The Corn, backwards beats, a Japanese flute, rave riffs, needle scratches and rattling breaks make this one spellbinding journey into darkness.

Jim Polo - Voyager (1993)

Insidious chopped divas, record scratching, brittle infected beat science, eerie stretched ring modulators, horror dialogue and pitch-shifted bells all blend into this darkness. Further dark points are added as Voyager was issued on Dark Horse Records, an imprint run by Jimi & his 2 Sinister bandmate Neil Vass. Dark Horse started in 1993, released just 7 records and by 1994 the label was done and dusted. 

The Invisible Man - The End...(Drug Induced Psychosis Mix) (1993)

An uneasy vibe is followed by sinister tones then whooshes of darkness while the riddim fades in as the creaky gloom continues, further tension is added with Goblin-esque horror soundtrack soundz, at 3.09 a wobbly hoover drone blasts in, then we're informed it's the beginning of the end as we head into oblivion. 

D.O.P.E. - When I Was Young (1993)

This starts out of the gate with Amen breaks, then a sub bass drop at 0.13. Just as you're thinking this is gonna be a nice lil' toe tapper the creepiness starts to take over and before long you are enveloped in exquisite darkness. That malignant pitch-shifted Supertramp Logical Song sample is so sneakily inserted into the track that you barely even notice it's there until the tune is over and it has seeped into your brain.

Rufige Kru - Manslaughter (Part 1 Runners Edge) (1993)

Goldie is probably the only jungle celebrity on the planet but don't expect this tune to conform to any kind of commercial or dancefloor standards. This is twisted abstract dark ambient jungle except it's knackered and the malfunctioning beat just won't get up off the floor to get you on the floor. This is impeccable sound design for song blueprints for the future. The time for Manslaughter (Part 1 Runners Edge) still has not yet arrived and possibly never will. This is beyond! 

ANDY C

Double Vision - Easy Does It (1993)

Double Vision is an Andy C alias. Easy Does it is a surge that goes so hard(core) it totally rocks da house! 

Desired State - Beyond Bass (1993)

Desired State is Andy C & Ant Miles from Concept 2, Elevation & Higher Sense. The vocal hook here is a sample from Humanoid's Cry Baby which is turned into an urgent skittering blur. Add Amen breaks that smash their way through the dark atmosphere and blissful ambience to create quite a buzzin' tune.  

Andy C - Bass Constructor (1993)

We get mental chopped up hardcore chipmunk vocals amongst the insane drum choppage, whooshing keys, atmospheric bleeps and a classic bass drop at 0.58. Dark, intense and sinister. Bass! 

Andy C - Something New Part 1 (1993)

Includes babbling speedy chipmunks, hands in the air ambience, racing rave riffage, delirious backwards drumz and a deep bubbling bass drop at 1.25. Something New is a stampede in one hell of a rush.

Desired State - Killer Beat (1993)

Killer Beat starts out with ominous bells, disorienting synth smears then vocal snatches rush by in a blur as a deep wobbling bass enters amongst all sorts of frantic alarming sounds to rattle your brain.   

Randall & Andy C - Sound Control (1994)

An Amen smasher with mucho time-stretched and frantic choppage along with sirens, bleeps and horror soundtrack vibez. 

Randall & Andy C - Feel It (1994)

Sometimes hardcore jungle tunes can resemble arty audio collage music. Amidst rave sirens, crazy hardcore breaks and deep dub bass we get a slew of vocal snippets featuring jungalist and movie dialogue. As the comments say this wasn't played out very often but it's a booming track to lose your mind to. Bubblin psycho-delic RAMology.

Origin Unknown - Valley Of The Shadows (1993)

Now let's finish with the Andy C track that everyone knows because it's probably the most unforgettable jungle tune ever and definitely one of the best. This particular Valley Of The Shadows yt clip has been watched over 1.4 million times. Andy C is joined in Origin Unknown by his RAM Records co-founder Ant Miles. This Darkside Jungle masterpiece never gets old. It was whipped up in just four hours with most of the musical elements coming from a sample cd given away with the February 1993 issue of Future Music magazine. Apollo 11's 1969 lunar module landing countdown from NASA's Jack King provides the "31 seconds" dialogue snippet. The haunting "Felt that I was in a long dark tunnel" dialogue sample comes from a BBC documentary about near death experiences. The delightfully eerie atmosphere created here makes this one of the most memorable jungle tunes of all time. Perfection. 

THE DARKSIDE OF RAVE

Top Buzz - Living In Darkness (1992)

Loads of hardcore rave turning into darkside jungle tunes used the word dark in the title: Hello Darkness, Tales From The Darkside, The Dark Stranger, Darkage, Dark Angel, Trip II The Moon (The Darkside), Darkrider, The Dark Crystl, Darker Side Of Evil, Darker Than I Should Be, Dark Horse In Full Effect, Shot In The Dark, The Dark Sheep, Darkman, String Of Darkness, Second Dark Child, In Complete Darkness, Dark Secrets, Give A Little Darkness, Darkcore etc. 

I can't remember who used it first but it was ubiquitous by 1992 so maybe it was Top Buzz? I dunno. Or did someone pre-empt the dark vibe in 1991? The brisk drummage here is noice, as is the (barely audible here) bass drop but it really kicks off at 1.23 when the massive hardcore riff comes in. The darkness is piled on with the atmospheric synth then there's a choice reprise bass breakdown at 4.23. Triumphant.

*Listening to jungle on youtube is not ideal as you lose so much bass even when it's bluetoothed through a good sound system. 

Noise Factory - Be Free (1992)

Total Banger!

I know the young folk have appropriated the word banger and now use it to describe tv shows, food, tik tok videos and whatever else they think is good but I'm using it here in its original context. 

Be Free starts out of the gate with a bunch of dub reggae samples taken from Scientist V Prince Jammy's Big Showdown LP and they continue throughout. Then at 1.00 it becomes an absolute Amen smasher with massive rave riffs and the iconic "No" sample. 

DJ Trace & Ed Rush - Clean Gun (1993)

It feels like Clean Gun starts at least four times. At the start. Next at the 0.21 mark when the backwards drummage intermingled with martial snares enters. Then at 1.27 when a new beat kicks in on top of the old one. Then again at 1.52 when another rhythm comes in over the top of the other two. This new rhythm really gets rolling though but the other two beats continue along with some tasty snatches of dancehall MCs. By the time of the wicked bass drop at 3.16 maybe even another monster beat has taken over, it's all so crazy it's hard to tell! Soon we've got hands in the air synth ambience to take us to the finish. A top notch journey into rhythmic psychedelia. 

Johnny Jungle - Flammable (1993)

Is what it says on the tin! Flammable is smeared in darkness from the get go but the frantic Amen choppage passes through the echo chamber to burst out. Every element here seems to have been time-stretched for maximum euphoric dancefloor delight. Flamin' tune.

Johnny Jungle - The Devoted Drummer (1993)

Insane beat science on this one. The rhythm here is time stretched to the limit. My brain feels deliriously devoted to the drummer after this trip into the jungle of contorted rhythmic madness.  

Moving Shadow: The History of Jungle 1990-95

This mix is all killer no filler. These are the biggest tunes from 1990 to 1995 on the MOVING SHADOW label. I couldn't think of a better introduction to this mighty label. It covers hardcore turning into darkside turning into jungle. One glorious game-changing masterpiece after another. Uh...the vibe! If you are hearing any of these trax for the first time you are a lucky duck and in for a treat. I gotta say 30 years later it's still a joy to hear these fresher than ever cuts. Omni Trio and Foul Play are still giving me the goose bumps, sending me back to the euphoric future 90s.  

Hardcore!

 

Jungle! 

Check out the sheer quality in this playlist.

1 Blame– Music Takes You (2 Bad Mice Remix)Remix – 2 Bad Mice 

2 2 Bad Mice – Waremouse 

3 Hyper On Experience – The Frightner 

4 Kaotic Chemistry – Spacecakes 

5 2 Bad Mice – Mass Confusion 6 Hyper On Experience – Lords Of The Null-Lines (Foul Play Remix) Remix – Foul Play 

7 Foul Play – Open Your Mind 

8 Omni Trio –Feel Good (Remix) 

9 Foul Play – The Finest 

10 Omni Trio – Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix) Remix – Foul Play 

11 Cloud Nine* – You Got Me Burnin 

12 DJ Trax – Hightime 

13 JMJ & Richie – Case Closed 14 Deep Blue – The Helicopter Tune 15 Omni Trio – Thru The Vibe 16 Renegade – Terrorist 17 Cloud Nine* – The Pedge 18 E-Z Rollers – Believe

19 Blame & Justice – Anthemia 

20 Omni Trio - Living For The Future 21 DJ Pulse – So Fine (Remix) 22 Essence Of Aura – Northern Lights

23 Higher Sense – Cold Fresh Air
24 Foul Play – Being With You 

25 Dead Dred – Dred Bass

Cold Fresh Air was the only track I couldn't i-d although it's familiar. Higher Sense are Ant Miles & David Thomas. Ant Miles was also in Jungle legends Origin Unknown and Desired State. It's a good day if I discover a cracking jungle tune from 28 years ago. I love that wasted vibe on the time-stretched vocal bit. 

*The remix of Cold Fresh Air was released by Moving Shadow but this original was on Ant's own label Liftin' Spirit. Which in turn was a sub label of RAM Records which was co-owned by Ant & another jungle luminary Andy C. Phew!...got it?

4HERO - Part II: Tom & Gerry

Tom & Gerry - Luv & Run (1994)

Tuuune! Possibly the best of Tom & Gerry's tunes albeit an atypical one. Some edgy high-hat action right from the get go. Wait for the mental almost didgeridoo-like bass drop and choice haywire rimshots at 0.47. Followed by ambient stabs then chipmunk divas. I think there's even a tambourine or some kind of bell amongst the rhythms. Delightful dubwise jungle.

For those who don't know Tom & Jerry is an alias of 4HERO the hardcore jungle duo comprising Marc Mac & Dego. This moniker was their outlet for more dancefloor friendly tunes for the jungle massive. The music was quickly made and was more on the mellow & soul tip but still within the hardcore/darkside/jungle genres. These ain't no throwaway trax though, they're terrific.  

Tom & Gerry - Airfreshner (1994)

This kicks off with mellow keys then the pitch-shifted vocal sample "There is darkness, There is light" followed by a snatch of reggae vocals from Kentrus's It A Fi Bun (1994). We get all the luscious vibes and space for miles. Noice.

Tom & Jerry - Still Lets Me Down (1994) 

The opening here sounds like something from an ambient or soundtrack record from Japan in the 80s. Then a synth drone piles on the tension while the beat kicks in quickly followed by a stretched soul vocal sample. A squiggly oriental flute pops up now and then amongst the general Eastern vibes . The drummage is sweet and it all rolls along in a splendacious manner. 

Tom & Jerry - Escape (1993)

Smudges of ominous hoover soundz from Here Come The Drums (1992) by Nasty Habits, haunting snatches of dialogue from Apocalypse Now and wicked clanky riddims combine to create an underrated darkside classic. 

Tom & Jerry - Thriller (1994)

Bleeps, acid squelches, clattering choppage, sci-fi synths, a diva sample, mechanical screeches and ambient tones come together on this tune that is darkside gold.

Tom & Jerry - Follow Da Massive (1994)

Follow Da Massive is all about the beat science. We get supreme drum choppage out of the gate, a tasty reggae vocal from Cutty Ranks, warped deep dub bass, backwards drummage, melodic percussion and rhythmic psychedelia all put through a dub echo chamber. Tune is Massive! 

4HERO

 

4HERO - Make Yah See Spiders On The Wall (1991)

A paranoid Cabaret Voltaire-esque electronic frequency kicks this off and the darkness continues despite the twinkly xylophone motifs throughout. The bass drop at 0.34 is massive, fucking heavy and enthralling. The "You Should Do Some Voodoo" sample is a catchy but creepy nursery rhyme. The atmospheric horror soundtrack synths and menacing groans all add to this exquisite nightmare of a tune. Hearing this on the dancefloor under the influence of ecstasy could have sent you on a delirious downward spiral.  Nobody ever says this is one of the best tunes of the 90s but Make Yah See Spiders On The Wall IS definitely one of the best tunes of the 90s!

4HERO - Cookin UP Yah Brain (1992)

The beat science on this is magic. The drum choppage is all backwards then forwards top which bedlamises your mind. These unfathomable rhythms are what became so exciting about JUNGLE the emerging genre here, although I guess this is really a hardcore classic. 

 

4HERO - Students OF The Future (1993)

Gloomy drones, apocalyptic dialogue, funky drumming veering off the rails, punishing icy cold synth stabs amongst a plethora of weird atmospheric samples from unknown sources make this one hell of an illusive tune. A brain melting darkside masterpiece. 

4HERO - Journey From The Light (1993)

Spiralling concussive synth and percussion, luscious strings, bleeps, chipmunk vocals, acid squelches like bubbling cauldrons, otherworldly contorted drummage, noisey jolts and soul divas wailing into the future bring this sonic jigsaw to life. 4HERO's innovative quantum leaps in a period of less than 2 years is astonishing. Marc Mac & Dego, 4HEROs masterminds, covered so much territory by pushing into new zones it's amazing that they also had an slew of aliases creating an abundance of great music too. 

 

4HERO - The Power (1993)

Amazing. Some of the sounds here are so abstract it's hard to tell what their original source was. Putting your finger on swirly synths, mentastic stabs, skittering beats and an array bleeps is one thing but what the hell are these other elements that make up the rest of The Power's sonic collage. This shit was so visionary. That I'm saying this 30 years later is a testament to 4HERO's inspiring innovation.

In the midst of a purple patch that really began in 1991 4HERO seemed to hit another creative pinnacle on 1993's JOURNEY FROM THE LIGHT EP. The duo's ingenuity smashed through into another dimension. In the context of today these tunes are overwhelming in their stature. The amount of good ideas, inventiveness and the fact these ideas coalesce crabwise into masterpieces is still fucking thrilling.

4HERO - The Element (High Noon) (1993)

Still just freakily exhilarating in 2022. Really strange. Odd musical structures. Undeniably accessible though.

They do a thing here that's like the opposite of time-stretching, where it feels they they've squished too much sonic information into a space where it doesn't quite fit because there's not enough time/room but it does end up fitting somehow. This outcome is something akin to jump-cut edits in Nouvelle Vague. That in turn creates a weird discombobulating affect - compressed/folding into itself/disappearing spiral staircase/dream logic sort of thing. Maybe Simon Reynolds or Kodwo Eshun had a word for it, I can't remember.

It's hard to believe that 4HERO were, if I remember correctly, pretty straight edge. These insanely bedazzled trax with elation & paranoia smeared all over them seem designed to take maximum affect whilst under the influence of psychoactive substances. You would think inside knowledge of ecstasy, acid, speed, marijuana & coke's mind altering properties would have to be a requirement to make such successful psychedelic music but....

 

4HERO - In The Shadow (Sundown) (1993)

All backwards drumz, psychedelic mentasm scratches and an esoteric sequence of brutal abstract sci-fi keys that just seem to hang in the murky air make this a disorientating excursion into darkness like no other in hardcore jungle. A necromantic black hole of a tune.

Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun) - Del Shannon

...because the 60s rule...2 minutes 10 seconds of pop glory...what more do you need...

Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero

Death Metal Goes Cosmic Synth in 2022

An exact replica of a 70s cosmic synth record in the vein of Tangerine Dream & Klaus Schulze made by current death metal band Blood Incantation. In 1975 it would have been futuristic. In 2022 it's nostalgia for past visions of futurism. I'm not sure what the point is but it's a strange unorthodox trajectory for a death metal band to take. 

Is it so strange though? 

It may not seem so when you consider a track such as Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte by black metal act Burzum from their 1996 LP Filosfem (rec. 1993). So this tune was an ambient electronic tune not dissimilar to that of contemporaneous tracks by Aphex Twin.

There is however quite a large difference when you consider that this Burzum track was at least made in the innovative era for both ambient techno & black metal whereas Timewave Zero is a throwback to a genre that was innovative 45+ years ago. 

Many would argue death metal hasn't really pushed the envelope since the mid to late 90s when Death, Cryptopsy & Suffocation were making sonic transformations in the genre.

So Burzum were doubling up on their boundary expansion in the mid-90s while Blood Incantation are doubling down on their regression in 2022.

The Church - Jammed

THE CHURCH - THE SEXUAL ACT (1/10/03)

I love it when The Church get outlandish and noisey on  these epic loud space rock jamz! This is an ace OTT psychedelic racket that starts out blues-y then gets positively intergalactic before the infinite swelling of free splintering guitars swirl into oblivion. If you love your Hawkwind, Lobby Loyde, Velvets, Fushitsusha, Kawabata Makoto etc. then you are going to love this. Free your mind!

BEST OF 2021

DEATH TRIPPIN IN THE VIRAL ZONE:

THE YEAR OF DELTA & OMICRON.

ALBUMS/EPs

The Only Cat Left In Town - Moon Wiring Club

Hymn To Eternal Death/Demonic Trip Through Hell - Controlled Death

Dagara: Gyil Music of Ghana's Upper West Region - Dagar Gyil Ensemble of Lawra

Overheard Conversations/First Vows/Winter Visit - Sulk Rooms

The Superceded Sounds of​.​.​. The New Obsolecents

Aethertalk - Szlazak

Springtime - Springtime

After those above outstanding recordings there were several others I enjoyed such as Ghost Party Delirium from Moon Wiring Club, Carnage performed by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, God's Waiting Room plus the Superdank cassette by Lo Five, Toi Toi Toi's Vaganten, The Hall Of Counterfeits by Steve Kilbey & The Winged Heels plus Nick Edwards, the artist formally known as Ekoplekz, had at least five nifty releases Landfill Electronikz volumes 1 & 2, Beyond The Corner & Not For The Trees plus the Aethertalk EP under the alias Szlazak as mentioned above.

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MOST FRUSTRATING ALBUM OF 2021

New Long Leg - Dry Cleaning

Florence Shaw is obviously a fucking charismatic superstar...

...along the lines of Mr Baron Mordant of eMMplekz (in)fame...

...it's all about snatches of lyrical dialogue germinating in Shaw's mind that then seemingly accidentally spill out of her brain into the real world. It feels voyeuristic to be hearing these private utterances being involuntarily murmured out loud, like being miked up to someone talking to themselves on public transport or in front of a mirror in a pub toilet... 

...each sporadic thought is a puzzling miniature oral treatise that can be illuminating, confounding, absurd, embarrassing or more often than not inane...

...but I can't help thinking she’s in the wrong band. The backing band play the overdone, over-revived retro post-punk to 90s post-hardcore pastiche of influences game ie. Wire, Gang Of Four, Magazine, The Wipers, SY, Polvo, Unwound ad nauseam. All me absolute favourites but c’mon!

It’s kinda incongruous. If they had to be post-punk, her vocal delivery would be more suited to a post-punk sound with more spaciousness for her delicious words to shine like PIL, New Age Steppers, Fatal Microbes, Young Marble Giants, Homosexuals, Annie Anxiety, The Slits, ESG et al....

......maybe I'm the one being short-sighted, perhaps I just need to be emphasising Florence's vocals and lyrical content innovations above everything else like we did with say The Sex Pistols and X-Ray Spex. While those bands rocked with white knuckled punk abandon it was the vocalists delivery & subject matter that were startling and new at the time of arrival... 

...We spend an LP peaking inside Shaw's interrupted/non-linear thought processes, rummaging through the clutter of her mind, experiencing the brain fades and the overloaded mental sensation of always being connected yet so disconnected in this wifi/i-phone/zoom age. She delivers deadpan random phrases that encapsulate the drab euphoria of the endless nothing that is 2020s pandemic lockdown life...  

...then I go back to thinking really though she might be better off in an entirely different less tired genre...

...Like Bjork being way too good for The Sugarcubes, will she realise her band are holding her back and go solo next year...

...still New Long Leg is pretty hard not to like because Shaw is so awesome at capturing all the blunted paranoid indignation, petty annoyances, tiny pleasures, slight disappointments, mild desperation, loneliness and the despondent elation in the listlessness of this particular moment, sometimes all within one phrase. Plus by the time of the final track Every Day Carry the band and Florence Shaw have struck cohesive in the red noisy gold so you are ready to forgive any misgivings.

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REISSUES/ARCHIVES/COMPILATIONS

Disco Se Aagay - Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh

Sweet Stuff - Sylvia

Under The Influence Vol. 9: A Collection Of Rare Funk & Disco - Various

Wamono A to Z Vol. II - Japanese Funk 1970​-​1977 - Various

Wamono A to Z Vol. III - Japanese Light Mellow Funk, Disco & Boogie 1978​-​1988 - Various

Saturday Night: South African Disco Pop Hits-1981-1987 - Various

Greg Belson's Divine Funk: Rare American Gospel Soul and Funk - Various

Silk Road: Journey Of The Armenian Diaspora 1971-1982 - Various

Fine Anyway - Rogér Fakhr

Grauzone - Grauzone

Peel Sessions - Clan of Xymox

Fiori Chiari, Fiori Oscuri - Alvin Curran

Habibi Funk 015: An Eclectic Selection From The Arab World Part II - Various

Instrumental Modal Pop of 1970's Egypt - Baligh Hamdi

Giant + Guitar - Omar Korshid

With Love - Omar Korshid

Cameroon Garage Funk - Various

Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura - 4 Mars

Tezeta - Hailu Mergia

High Tide - Eddie Suzuki New Hawaii

Trujillo: Perú 1971​-​1974 - Manzanita y Su Conjunto

Navarro con Polenta - Jorge Navarro

De Las Colonias Del Río De La Plata - Viejas Raíces

Cat - Hiroshi Suzuki

Ai Ga Nakucha Ne - Akiko Yano 

Esperanto - Ryuichi Sakamoto

Kenka Oyaji - Hoodoo Fushimi

DJ Notoya Presents Tokyo Glow - Various

Magical Nights: Saigon Surf Twist & Soul (1964​-​1966) - Phương Tâm

Unforgotten Sessions S1/S2 - Miro

The Most Famous Unknown: Expansion Packs 4/5/6/7 - Marc Acardipane

The Revenant Tapes - Ekoplekz

Interval Signals - Ekoplekz

Dirty Workshop Magick - The Assembled Minds

Scared Famous​/​FF>> - Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti

Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh's delightful 1984 LP Disco Se Aagay is one of the best records I've heard ever so this is my highlight of the year old or new LP-wise, hands down!. New wave Hindustani synth pop disco by a teenage British-Pakistani brother and sister duo. Like if Human League were fronted by a 14 year old Pakistani girl from Birmingham with incredibly sophisticated Asian disco-pop melodies and heritage. So thanks to The Discotan label from Los Angeles for rediscovering and reissuing this gem!

An infectiously audacious folky singer-songwriter with tinges of acoustic pop, jazz, soul, country-psych etc. in the vein of a mid 70s Californian troubadour except this was recorded in 1977 in a Beirut basement (the bonus tracks in Paris during 1978) by the legendary enigmatic Lebanese musician Roger Fakhr. It’s sung in English so there’s barely a hint that it comes from a Lebanese artist. Fakhr has collaborated with other legendary Lebanese musicians such as Fairuz, Issam Hajali & Ziad Rahbani.

It’s got glorious hooks galore. Some tunes are melancholy while others are jauntily upbeat. The instrumentation is pretty spare: mainly acoustic guitar & reverbed vocals with the occasional backing vocal harmony, tambourine, flute, piano & hand drums. 

On a couple of the bonus tunes from the Paris recording he even gets positively funky & electric with the guitar, bass, psych FX, keyboards, wah-wah & even the use of a drum kit! 

Suffice to say the entire LP is melodically exquisite with beautiful accompanying arrangements.

It’s absurd to think that most of this great record was only ever released during the 70s in a very small quantity of hand copied cassettes with a rudimentary but quaint texta designed cover.

So we have to thank the wonderful Habibi Funk Records for their persistence in getting this album out into the world in 2021 as Fakhr originally declined a reissue several years earlier.

Habibi Funk had a couple of other notable releases ie. Habibi Funk 017: Chant Amazigh from Majid Soula plus Habibi Funk 015: An Eclectic Selection From The Arab World Part II a compilation from Various Artists.

Z Records have done it again with their 9th instalment of the Under The Influence series. Alena Arpels has done a stellar job of compiling little known obscure gems that were apparently "originally pressed on vinyl in very small quantities between 1970 & 1983. Many of the tracks included in this compilation were never commercially released but given away by the artists to family and friends." So we get a whole lotta funk, boogie, funky soul, disco, jazz-funk etc. It's partay time folks! 

Great labels such as 180G, Cultures Of Soul, Terrestrial Funk & We Want Sounds continued in 2021 to take care of our disco, funk, soul, jazz-funk, boogie and funky gospel needs. Praise the Lord!

Ostinato Recorords killed it again this year with the unheard, to western ears at least, compilation of tunes from 4MarS. How the fuck do you describe the music of 4MarS??? Well it's big and it's got the lot: Maximum African reggae (Not really like Jamaican Reggae at all) with African choral singing, Middle Eastern psych synths, brass sections, Egyptian rhythms and funky Asian flavoured flutes which all meld together for this snazzy soulful masterpiece of East African music from the Gulf of Tadjoura. 

Analog Africa released one of their greatest African compilations in 2021. This time it was the untamed funky sounds from 70s Central Africa, Cameroon Garage Funk. This contained raw free funk that just has to be heard to be believed. This is right up there with 2008's African Scream Contest. Although I shouldn't be shouting out to them at all after bad business practices during the pandemic ie. not refunding damaged goods due to unreasonable return time limits when basically trade had come to a halt in Australia. So up yours Analog Africa! 

Hailu Mergia & the Walias Band had another ye olde stone cold classic cassette reissued in 2021. Tezeta (1976) on the Awesome Tapes From Africa label is more choice Ethio-Jazz that any Ethiopian music aficionado needs to wrap their ears around.

The Egyptian guitar pioneer Omar Khorshid originally released this LP in 1974, while living in Beirut, on the Voice Of Lebanon record label.

He had been in Egyptian guitar groops, pop singer backing bands & orchestras but wanted to fully explore the potential of his electric guitar & other electronics. His roots were still firmly Arabic just with added psych-funk, fuzz & synth. A deliciously brilliant style developed & is on display here!

This year the fabulous We Want Sounds label from France reissued it on vinyl.

A good indication of how fucked Western Society is right now is that Ariel Pink got cancelled in 2021. The US political system is a corrupt duopoly so whichever side wins it's a losing situation. However according to the establishment left ideologues running everything in America (& the rest of the West) almost 50% of Americans are deplorable human beings with totally unacceptable political viewpoints that need be silenced. So Ariel Pink despite being of Mexican and Jewish heritage was labelled a white-supremacist for voting republican thus he was promptly sacked by his record company Mexican Summer. Here in Australia some fans I know fell for this absurd rhetoric too and quickly denounced Ariel. Funnily enough Mexican Summer were only too willing to take my money for this reissue though. Anyway it's a double vinyl compilation of his 2001 Masterpieces FF>> and Sacred Famous. Great music from one this millennium's few musical visionaries.    

Perhaps i'll write about some of the other great reissued records in this list at a better mood in time.......

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TELLY

SUMMER OF SOUL 

At the start just as you're getting into a tune by Stevie Wonder or Chambers Brothers the film-makers cheapen the astounding music by interrupting it with interviews and social context etc. Put the interviews in-between the tunes! It's not that hard and it wont frustrate the shit out of the viewers. Hopefully there'll be a blu-ray box set of just the raw concert music footage. I have no problem with the historical content, the triumphant musical tales, civil rights battle stories, gritty realism newsreels etc. but I just wanted the concert, not snippets of greatness. I mean this is some of the best music of the 20th Century... anyway... it's still a hell of a television event. The threads, the swagger, The funky psychedelic soul, Mongo Fucking Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Sonny Sharrock, Hugh Makesela, Nina Simone and Sly & The Fucking Family Stone.

C'mon Disney (Well it was on Disney here in Australia) what about 8 hours of this stuff uninterrupted! It is way more innovative and exciting than George Harrison having a little tantrum about god knows what?!

MR INBETWEEN

The final season was fantastic and heartbreaking.

LINE OF DUTY

Kelly Macdonald kills it as DCI Joanne Davidson. The legendary trio Ted, Kate & Steve at Anti-Corruption Unit 12, catch bent coppers once again. I still loved it in its sixth season, but is that it?

THE SOPRANOS

Still the best televisual drama in history. It's the best 86 hour movie ever made innit? It now has added resonance in these illiberal times. 

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THE WORLD

*Not quite understanding why everyone's telling me how to live and what to think in the current political climate. I'm fine thanks I have a brain. 

**Not digging the rise of authoritarianism coming from all political angles here in Australia and the seeming acquiescence to it. 

***Understanding even less: The people who have weaponised compassion but are then calling their fellow human beings idiots, scum and vermin!

BRAVE NEW NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR CONTINUES....