October 31, 2010

Charts October 31, 2010

WRIR's #1 world music recording this week is one of the ones we're giving away during our Fall '10 Fund Drive -- The Budos Band III.

CMJ New World Top Ten
1 BUDOS BAND | The Budos Band III | Daptone
2 KOES BERSAUDARA | To The So-Called "The Guilties" | Sublime Frequencies
3 TOMER YOSEF | Laughing Underground | JDub
4 BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE | Bulevar 2000 | Nacional
5 GOLEM | Fresh Off Boat | JDub
6 BIO RITMO | Dina's Mambo/La Muralla | Electric Cowbell
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Roots Of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru | Barbes
8 HUUN HUUR TU | Ancestors Call | World Village
9 EBO TAYLOR | Love And Death | Strut
10 DEBO BAND | Flamingoh (Pink Bird Dawn) | self-released

CMJ New World Adds
1 DEPEDRO | Nubes De Papal | Nat Geo Music
2 CHICO MANN | Analog Drift | Wax Poetics
3 TIROGO | Float | QDK Media
4 WITCH | Introduction | QDK Media
5 ZEDASHE | Enduring Fortress | self-released

New & Recommended At WRIR
Antibalas | Who Is This America? | Ropeadope
Balkanize! | Balkan Eyes | self-released
Bio Ritmo | Dina's Mambo / La Muralla | Electric Cowbell
Bostich + Fussible | Bulevar 2000 | Nacional
Chico Mann | Analog Drift | Wax Poetics
Debo Band | Flamingoh (Pink Bird Dawn) | self-released
Depedro | Nubes De Papel | Nat Geo Music
Fat Freddys Drop | Live At Roundhouse London | The Drop
Huun Huur Tu | Ancestors Call | World Village
Krygier, Axel | Pesebre | Crammed Discs
Moussu T E Lei Jovents | Putan De Cancon | Le Chant Du Monde
Orchestre National De Barbes | Rendez-vous Barbes | Le Chant Du Monde
Psychedelic Aliens, The | Psycho African Beat | Academy
Radioclit Presents The Sound Of Club Secousse, Volume 1: African Dance Music Anthems | (various artists) | Crammed Discs
Roots Of Chicha 2, The | (various artists) | Barbes
Salsa Explosion! The New York Salsa Revolution 1968-1985 | (various artists) | Strut
Septeto Nacional | Sin Rumba No Hay Son | World Village
Taylor, Ebo | Love And Death | Strut
Tirogo | Float | QDK Media

Tirogo | Float

ARTIST:  Tirogo
TITLE:  Float
LABEL:  QDK Media

REVIEW:  The ongoing project to locate every piece of vinyl ever released in Africa has turned up this psychedelic-rock gem from 1977 Nigeria.  Like a lot of African rock bands, Tirogo is clearly influenced by the multi-cultural musical adventures of Jimi Hendrix and Santana (two pretty positive influences, I’d say).  The lead guitar player, Elvy (Action) Akhionbare, is really superb and gets an amazingly Hendrix-like sound out of his gear.  The songs provide plenty of room for guitar and organ solos; songwriter and singer Wilfred Ekanem’s lyrics are moralistic and downright Christian in a few places, but at its essence this is party music.  Probably the first time I’ve ever heard the phrases “boogie shoes” and “go my friends with Jesus” in the same song is on track 4 here.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    4    5

Depedro | Nubes De Papel

ARTIST:  Depedro
TITLE:  Nubes de Papel (Paper Clouds)
LABEL:  Nat Geo Music

REVIEW:  For those of you who have been waiting for a new album from Calexico, this will help tide you over.  Depedro is the band name for singer-songwriter Jairo Zavala, a native of Madrid and the touring guitarist for Calexico and Andrew Bird.  The album was co-produced by Calexico’s Joey Burns and much of it was recorded at Wavelab Studio in Tucson with Burns, John Convertino and other Calexicans.  Zavala’s material is folkier and more introspective than Calexico’s, but you’ll note a great sonic similarity between the two – it definitely has that cinematic borderland sound.  This could just as easily be categorized as AAA singer-songwriter instead of world, and a lot of the material here will work for WRIR's Wide Ear Folk and for anyone who like artists such as Bonnie Prince Billy and M. Ward.  This is low-key good stuff, and the cover of the Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On” (track 9) is especially surprising and outstanding.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    2    4    9    11

Chico Mann | Analog Drift

ARTIST:  Chico Mann
TITLE:  Analog Drift
LABEL:  Wax Poetics

REVIEW:  Chico Mann is the high-concept brainchild of Marcos Garcia, guitarist for Antibalas and Ocote Soul Sounds.  The concept: what if you played Afrobeat on a Casiotone electronic keyboard?  On this, their second record, Chico Mann starts branching out a bit from the original formula – a broader range of electronics (still keeping that old-school flavor), more Latin rhythms and a heavy emphasis on the classic Africa Bambaataa-era electro sound.  But there’s still plenty of Afrobeat, and the dance-and-don’t-think-too-hard motivation is still in place.  It’s pretty much impossible not to grin when you’re listening to this totally synthetic, cheesy and yet oddly compelling sound.  They get bonus points for a totally Chico Mann cover of Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” (track 7).
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    5    7    10

October 29, 2010

Program October 29, 2010

WRIR's Fall 2010 Fund Drive starts when this program goes on the air -- Friday October 29 at 5:00 PM here in Richmond Virginia USA.  The fund drive is a time when all of Richmond Independent Radio's 200 volunteers dress foolishly and stand in the middle of busy thoroughfares holding signs.  Well, maybe a few of our volunteers do -- after all, it is Halloween week.

Actually, the fund drive is a time when we ask all of our listeners (and that means webstream and podcasts, too) to think about the value that WRIR brings -- the great music you wouldn't hear otherwise, the unembedded news that isn't beholden to established powers or points of view, the discussions that treat you like an intelligent adult and not like ... oh, let's say a potential voter whose button we're trying to push.  After all, it is election week here in the USA as well.

After you tally up that value, perhaps the spirit will move you to make a donation.  We count on those donations for a substantial fraction of our annual budget -- they pay for the programs you hear, the equipment we use to get them to you, rent and utilities at the place we broadcast from, necessities all.  So please consider making a donation now by calling (804) 622-9747 or by clicking here:

https://wrir.wufoo.com/forms/2010-form

Follow me below the fold where I'll tell you what's special about today's program, let you know about the  special premiums we have for folks who donate during Global A Go-Go, and I'll post my tracklist as the show proceeds.  Click here for a podcast of today's program:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/46767

The complete catalog of Global A Go-Go podcasts is here:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Global+A+Go-Go


October 25, 2010

Charts October 24, 2010

Hot off the presses and straight to #1 on WRIR's world music charts, it's The Roots Of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru.

CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Roots Of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru | Barbes
2 HUUN HUUR TU | Ancestors Call | World Village
3 EBO TAYLOR | Love And Death | Strut
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Salsa Explosion!: The Salsa Revolution 1968-1985 | Strut
5 BALKANIZE! | Balkan Eyes | self-released
6 THE APPLES | Kings | Freestyle
7 MOUSSU T E LEI JOVENTS | Putan De Cancon | Le Chant Du Monde
8 ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE BARBES | Rendes-Vous Barbes | Le Chant Du Monde
9 JOAN SORIANO | El Duque De La Bachata | iASO
10 GABRIEL ALEGRIA | Pucusana | Saponegro

CMJ New World Adds
1 BIO RITMO | Dina's Mambo/La Muralla | Electric Cowbell
2 FAT FREDDYS DROP | Live At Roundhouse London | The Drop
3 GROUP INERANE | Guitars From Agadez Volume 3 | Sublime Frequencies
4 THE PSYCHEDELIC ALIENS | Psycho African Beat | Academy
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Radioclit Presents The Sound Of Club Secousse, Volume 1: African Dance Music Anthems | Crammed Discs

New & Recommended At WRIR
Antibalas | Who Is This America? | Ropeadope
Apples, The | Kings | Freestyle
Balkanize! | Balkan Eyes | self-released
Bio Ritmo | Dina's Mambo / La Muralla | Electric Cowbell
Bostich + Fussible | Bulevar 2000 | Nacional
Debo Band | Flamingoh (Pink Bird Dawn) | self-released
Fat Freddys Drop | Live At Roundhouse London | The Drop
Huun Huur Tu | Ancestors Call | World Village
Krygier, Axel | Pesebre | Crammed Discs
Matorralman | Guateque Estelar | Nacional
Moussu T E Lei Jovents | Putan De Cancon | Le Chant Du Monde
Orchestre National De Barbes | Rendez-vous Barbes | Le Chant Du Monde
Psychedelic Aliens, The | Psycho African Beat | Academy
Radioclit Presents The Sound Of Club Secousse, Volume 1: African Dance Music Anthems | (various artists) | Crammed Discs
Roots Of Chicha 2, The | (various artists) | Barbes
Salsa Explosion! The New York Salsa Revolution 1968-1985 | (various artists) | Strut
Septeto Nacional | Sin Rumba No Hay Son | World Village
Soriano, Joan | El Duque De La Bachata | iASO
Taylor, Ebo | Love And Death | Strut

The Psychedelic Aliens | Psycho African Beat

ARTIST:  The Psychedelic Aliens
TITLE:  Psycho African Beat
LABEL:  Academy

REVIEW:  Here’s a major find from African music cratedigger extraordinaire Frank Gossner.  The Psychedelic Aliens cut just eight songs -- four on a 1970 EP followed by two 1971 singles.  This is some super-rare vinyl; better still, the music is really interesting.  The Aliens’ Afro-rock sound uses elements from American soul, garage rock and psychedelic rock (especially Hendrix) alongside characteristics Ghanaian rhythms.  They were early with this idea, and they were definitely onto something.  Check track 4 especially, which telescopes just about all their influences into one three-minute workout.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    4    6

The Roots Of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru

ARTIST:  various artists
TITLE:  The Roots Of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru
LABEL:  Barbes

REVIEW:  The first volume of The Roots Of Chicha was one of the surprise hits of 2007, exposing an unsuspecting public to the peculiar blend of cumbia, twangy guitars and psychotropic drugs that fueled this Peruvian style.  This second volume casts a broader net – where volume one focused primarily on rural Andean bands, this edition is more urban, more Cuban, less psychedelic, maybe a bit mellower and provides a more well-rounded view of a genre that has remained popular since the 70’s in Peru’s slums but has barely been acknowledged in upper-class Peruvian culture.  Compiler Olivier Conan (who leads the revival band Chicha Libre) has put together another superb selection here – kudos to him for more or less singlehandedly bringing this great musical style to the attention of American and European listeners.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    2    4    9    15    16

Radioclit Presents The Sound Of Club Secousse, Volume 1: African Dance Music Anthems

ARTIST:  various artists
TITLE:  Radioclit Presents The Sound Of Club Secousse, Volume 1: African Dance Music Anthems
LABEL:  Crammed Discs

REVIEW:  Radioclit (Frenchman Etienne Tron and Swede Johan Hugo) definitely have the hot hand right now as remixers, recording artists (their band The Very Best has two excellent recordings), and as club DJs.  In the last role, they’ve been spinning lots of current African dance music, very little of which is released in the USA.  So this compliation is an excellent survey of what’s new in Africa, especially in an electronic vein.  You get Iviorian coupe decale (track 7), funana from Cabo Verde (12), South African shangaan electro (14, a track that’s not on the Honest Jon’s Shangaan Electro compilation), popular-all-over zouk (15), and kwaito kwassa from Botswana  (17, a blend of house music and Congolese ndombolo believe it or not).  There’s a whole lot of really cool stuff here, and you will undoubtedly be among the first folks you know who’re listening to it if you check this out.  Definitely one of my favorite compilations of 2010.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    7    12    14    15    17

Fat Freddys Drop | Live At Roundhouse London

ARTIST:  Fat Freddys Drop
TITLE:  Live At Roundhouse London
LABEL:  The Drop

REVIEW:  New Zealand’s Fat Freddys Drop is one of the most remarkable and uncategorizable groups you’ll ever hear.  Are they a funk band?  A live dub act?  A jam band?  Jazz improvisers?  Yes to all of the above, and then some.  Described simply, they lay down some of the funkiest grooves anywhere and use them as springboards for always surprising, always soulful long-form songs and improvisations.  Here they’re in their favorite format, playing live; they’re working out the material that would soon become their second album Dr. Boondigga And The Big BW.  I’ve raved about their first two releases, and this one is equally brilliant.  It’s especially enjoyable to hear Chris (DJ Fitchie) Faiumu’s live electronics in a concert setting – this band is no studio creation, in fact it’s just the reverse in that their studio albums are more like an attempt to condense the live FFD experience.  This is just great stuff, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    2    4    6

Bio Ritmo | Dina's Mambo / La Muralla

ARTIST:  Bio Ritmo
TITLE:  Dina’s Mambo / La Muralla
LABEL:  Electric Cowbell
REVIEW:  For those of us who are eagerly anticipating Bio Ritmo’s next full-length releases (now expected in early 2011), here’s a new single from Richmond’s salsa machine. It’s on the all-vinyl Electric Cowbell label, run by former Bio Ritmo member Jim Thomson (also ex of GWAR, Alter-Natives and Tulsa Drone), who’s now based in Brooklyn. If you’ve heard Bio Ritmo recently, you know they’ve been emphasizing their funkier side, and that’s reflected on these two sides. Dina’s Mambo is a catchy, sinuous instrumental that features a variety of Marlysse Simmons’ old-school keyboard sounds. La Muralla is a vocal number that starts out as classic horn-driven midtempo NYC salsa, veers off briefly into cumbia and an introspective Simmons electric piano solo, and closes with a rousing coro vocal. This band is everything that salsa should be – danceable, soulful, surprising, eclectic. And they’re Richmond’s own, a point of pride for our musical community.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    2

October 21, 2010

Program October 22, 2010

Chicha is a popular Andean corn-based fermented beverage, and it's also the name of a musical style that swept across Peru in the 1970's.  (That's chicha band Los Shapis toasting you with the eponymous beverage.)

Frenchman Olivier Conan, now based at the Barbes nightclub and record label in Brooklyn, has made it his personal mission to introduce American and Europe to this remarkable blend of cumbia, surf and psychedelia -- his second Roots Of Chicha compilation is now in stores, and you'll hear a track from it on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go in a set of twangy music from around the world.

Also this week: throat singing and other Asian vocal music, more branches of Cuban son, and bangin' electronic dance music from across Africa.

Click "Read More" for today's tracklist; click here for a podcast of today's program:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/46518

The complete catalog of Global A Go-Go podcasts is here:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Global+A+Go-Go


October 14, 2010

Program October 15, 2010

74 year old Ebo Taylor (pictured above) is one of the most important artists in the development of Afrobeat, right up there with Fela Kuti.  Believe it or not, this Ghanaian musical giant finally has his first internationally distributed solo album; you'll hear a track from it on this week's show as part of an all-Afrobeat set.

I just couldn't let the passing of Solomon Burke, my all-time favorite soul singer, go by without a commemoration, so we'll do a Soul Spot (a very occasional feature of this program) in his honor, including a not-to-be-missed 10-minute-long live recording that's as much preaching as it is singing.  The subject of Bishop Burke's homily: "The Women Of Today."

All that and much, much more on Global A Go-Go this week.  Click "Read More" for today's tracklist; click here for a podcast of today's program:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/46319

The complete catalog of Global A Go-Go podcasts is here:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Global+A+Go-Go


October 10, 2010

Reviews and charts October 10, 2010

ARTIST:  Moussu T E Lei Jovents
TITLE:  Putan De Cancon
LABEL:  Le Chant Du Monde

REVIEW:  Moussu T E Lei Jovents is a band from Marseilles, France whose music fuses some of the wide variety of sounds heard in that worldly port city: local and Provencal traditions, American blues and jazz, the sounds of the Caribbean, and especially the music of Brazil.  They’re led by vocalist Tatou, founder of the legendary Marseilles reggae-rock band Massilia Sound System; the real star here is string player Blu (also a Massilia alumnus), whose work on various guitars and banjos is just stunningly tasteful throughout.  Three percussionists back them up, laying down subtly Brazilian-influenced rhythms.  These are mature, confident, virtuoso musicians and songwriters who make this complex fusion of styles seem natural and effortless – the overall vibe is one of a jam session or street busking.  This is the kind of album that Manu Chao or Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz will want to make when they’re tired of the road and ready to settle down.  Two thumbs way, way up for one of the best releases I’ve heard in 2010.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1    3    6    7    10

Excellent new records by Ebo Taylor and Huun Huur Tu are reviewed inside, and WRIR's world music charts are there as well.  So take the jump ...


October 4, 2010

Reviews and charts October 3, 2010

ARTIST:  various artists
TITLE:  Salsa Explosion! The New York Salsa Revolution 1968-1985
LABEL:  Fania/Strut

REVIEW:  Salsa is one of the USA’s great contributions to 20th century music culture.  Yes, I said the USA – although many if not most of the genre’s key figures were born outside the 50 states, salsa is essentially the product of musicians working in New York City.  Starting from the deep well of Cuban popular music (off-limits to most Americans after the 1962 Cuban embargo), seasoned with pan-Caribbean folkloric traditions (especially those of Puerto Rico) and with the players’ experience in American jazz and R&B bands, these musicians developed a style that has folks around the world dancing to this day.  Fania Records released more NYC salsa records than any label; they’ve just started a licensing program with Strut Records in the UK who specialize in hip, danceable global reissues and this CD is their first joint venture.  It’s a delicious single-disc sample of quintessential tracks from the various subgenres found in American salsa.  Every track’s a winner here.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:    1 (Afro-Latin)    5 (Latin soul)    9 (son montuno)    12 (boogaloo)    13 (salsa dura)

That's the only review this week, but inside are WRIR's world music charts, as per usual ...