Author and Experimental Musician David Toop on Hip-Hop’s First Decade

"Since the mid-1970s, David Toop has skillfully combined careers in three disparate disciplines: music, journalism and academia. In that time, he has earned respect from his peers in all three fields, releasing a wealth of cutting-edge albums and a number of exemplary music books. It was in the world of improvised music that Toop first made his mark, joining forces with free-jazz musician Max Eastley for the 1975 full-length New And Rediscovered Musical Instruments on Brian Eno’s label, Obscure Records. Since then, he has continued to record and release albums that draw inspiration from a myriad of experimental styles, in the process collaborating with like-minded musicians including Eno, Scanner, Bill Laswell, Jeff Noon, Ken Ikeda and Japanese art-pop troop Frank Chickens. ..."
Red Bull Music Academy Daily (Video)
David Toop (Video)

2018 March: David Toop Is Still Seeking Out New Sounds

Lee Dodou & The Polyversal Souls - Basa Basa

"As the lead singer of George Darko's legendary Burger-Highlife hit-band, Lee Dodou became the number one voice of 80's Highlife. Born in Kumasi, the epicenter of Ghanaian Highlife, he came to Berlin in the late 70's - by then the uprising epicenter of Burger-Highlife - to work as a back-up-singer for Pat Thomas. After joining and leaving Georg Darko and running his own band 'Kantata', he stopped releasing music in the early 90's. Now, Philophon is proud to present new recordings of his soulful genius to the world of 2018. Basa Basa is a song in the classic 'concert party' style, as it was played in the glorious 60's. After a firey horn introduction Lee takes over in that funny and entertaining manner typical for 'concert party' music. ..."
Holland Tunnel Dive
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Basa Basa, Sahara Akwantuo

See for Yourself

“Cleaning the Drapes,” also from House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home.
"The black-and-white video looks, just for a moment, like it might be a real cooking show. The female host holds up a chalkboard displaying its title, then puts on her apron and picks up a bowl. Yet instead of preparing food, she begins to stir with an invisible spoon. One by one, she picks up kitchen utensils and says their names aloud, making her way through the alphabet—'apron,' 'bowl,' 'chopper,' 'dish,' and so on—until she reaches U and starts spelling out the rest of the letters with her body. She never handles any food. Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen is one of the artist’s most beloved works. The six-minute video parodies cooking demonstrations, replacing the typical gracious host with, in the artist’s words, 'an anti-Julia Child' played by Rosler, who doesn’t smile and maintains a withering stare throughout. ..."
New Republic
The Living Room War: A Conversation with Artist Martha Rosler
INTERVIEW with MARTHA ROSLER, The Artist Who Speaks Softly but Carries a Big Shtick
MoMA (Audio)
NY Times: Martha Rosler Isn’t Done Making Protest Art
W - Martha Rosler
YouTube: Semiotics of the Kitchen 1975

Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck (1935)

"Tortilla Flat was, I believe, John Steinbeck's third novel first published in 1935, and it marked his first of many commercially successful novels. As with many of his novels it is set in Monterey, California. It tells the story of Danny and his friends, a group of paisanos - a word of Spanish origin referring to poor countrymen. At the start of the novel, in the preface, we see them leaving to join the military during World War I, but by the first chapter they have returned. ... Tortilla Flat follows the adventures of the friends, some rather extravagant, some essentially rather mundane, but even so this book is such a pleasure to read. It's fun and lighthearted, very comic at times, but above all else it was very warm and vibrant. It's a novel about friendship and we see how, in Monterey where people are poor and are possessions are few, friends and small communities are structured outside the more familiar class system. ... But it's a beautiful one, very simple and even honest to a degree (though one must acknowledge the reader may be uncomfortable with the portrayal of paisanos as layabouts), and yet again I am reminded that Steinbeck is one of the greatest authors of the 20th Century."
On Books
Guardian: John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat is not for 'literary slummers'
W - Tortilla Flat
[PDF] Tortilla Flat
amazon

William Basinski - A Shadow in Time (2017)

"In the fifteen years since William Basinski released the debut installment of his Disintegration Loops series he has been rapidly, and rightly, lionized. But for two decades prior to that, he was just another eccentric artist in New York, a tinkerer who built his own instruments, ran a venue and experimented insatiably with tape loops. He would tune in to the easy listening piped out by CBS and record snippets of it, creating a massive archive of schmaltz that, through the alchemy of sampling, could be transfigured into something infinitely more haunting. 'I would set up loops, get them going, put on the tape recorder and let it go for the length of the cassette because if it was going, it captured this eternal moment,' he told The Quietus in 2012. That eternal-moment is quintessential Basinski; his work has been uniquely fixated on time and loss, his compositions heaving with longing, melancholy and a sense of impenetrable mystery. ..."
Pitchfork (Audio)
W - A Shadow in Time
William Basinski’s A Shadow In Time is the tribute David Bowie deserves (Audio/Video)
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: A Shadow in Time, For David Robert Jones


2017 January: The Disintegration Loops (2002-2003), 2017 October: Watermusic II (2003), 2018 January: The Garden Of Brokenness (2005)

The 1959 Project - January 1, 1959

Charles Mingus, John Handy and Booker Ervin playing at the Five Spot while Orson Welles listens, 1958
"Anyone ringing in 1959 in Manhattan had options: Eartha Kitt at the Waldorf, Dizzy Gillespie at the Village Vanguard, Count Basie and Joe Williams at Birdland (which was broadcast nationally on CBS Radio’s 'New Year’s Eve Dancing Party'), Teddy Wilson at The Embers (54th St. and 3rd Ave.), Willie 'The Lion' Smith at Central Plaza (6th St. and 2nd Ave.), and Blossom Dearie at Versailles (9th St. and 6th Ave.) among many, many others. But the most tantalizing line-up, in retrospect, might have been at humble East Village club the Five Spot (Bowery Ave. between 4th and 5th St.), where Sonny Rollins and Charles Mingus were performing with their ensembles. ..."
The 1959 Project (Video)

Watch an Art Conservator Bring Classic Paintings Back to Life in Intriguingly Narrated Videos

"Even in our age of unprecedentedly abundant images, delivered to us at all times by print, film, television, and especially the ever-multiplying forms of digital media, something inside us still values paintings. It must have to do with their physicality, the physicality of oil on canvas or whatever tangible materials the painter originally used. But in that great advantage of the painting lies the great disadvantage of the painting: tangible materials degrade over time, and many, if not most, of the paintings we most revere have been around for a long time indeed, and few of them have come down to us in pristine shape. Enter the art restorer, who takes on the task of undoing, painstakingly and entirely by hand, both the ravages of time and the blunders of less competent stewards who have come before. In this case, enter Julian Baumgartner of Chicago's Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration, a meditative short documentary on whose practice we featured earlier this year here on Open Culture. ..."
Open Culture (Video)

Africa is a Country - World Cup 2018

The 2010 World Cup was tumultuous for France; both an athletic failure and a site of social conflict.
"The Respectable French - Football exerts a tortured fascination on the French public. It is fashionable to scoff at the benighted masses turning to football as an opium and to deplore the bad behavior and flashy spending of footballers. But everyone goes back to being a fan if Les Bleus are winning. The only country to qualify for three World Cup finals in twenty years, France also flamed out in the group stage at two of the tournaments in between 1998 and now. As Les Bleus’ athletic performance has seesawed, so has the team’s perception by an increasingly racist, classist society. Countless retrospectives have looked back at the French 1998 squad and the illusory dream of 'black-blanc-beur' unity. But while the memory of that victory 20 years ago is beloved, what really shapes the current iteration of Les Bleus was the tumultuous 2010 World Cup. ..."
Africa is a Country - The Respectable French
Africa is a Country - World Cup 2018

French national football team squad member, Paul Pogba with the national team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Africa is a Country - Pogbacité By Laurent Dubois

Arthur Russell - The World Of Arthur Russell (2004)

"There appears to be a typo on the usually on-point Soul Jazz label, in that an 'S' is missing from the title of their attempted overview of the enigmatic New York scene cellist Arthur Russell. If anything, there were many musical 'worlds' for Iowa-born Arthur Russell, and he floated between them effortlessly in a way that, up until death from AIDS in 1992, no one else had. There was the world of Indian master-musician Ali Akbar Khan, in which Arthur used his cello to trance-inducing effect. There was the world where his cello shadowed the beat-poet Allen Ginsburg at readings, as well as the world of The Kitchen, where he premiered his peculiar minimal compositions while also rubbing elbows with composers like John Cage, Rhys Chatham, and Philip Glass. He was in the rock world, too, nearly joining the Talking Heads and forming the short-lived Flying Hearts with ex-Modern Lover Ernie Brooks. He even briefly produced quirky tracks in the rap world, frustrating young rapper Mark Sinclair who would one day go on to make it as the meat-headed action hero Vin Diesel. ..."
Pitchfork
Sounds of the Universe (Audio)
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: The world of Arthur Russell (Full album) 1:13:13

2015 November: Love Of Life Orchestra ‎– Extended Niceties EP (1980), 2015 September: Arthur Russell, 2017 January: Instrumentals (2007), 2017 April: The Infinite Worlds of Arthur Russell

Manhole covers that left their mark on New York

"To get a sense of modern, massive New York City, you have to look up and take in the scope of the bridges, apartment towers, and skyscrapers. But to uncover the city’s past, it helps to look down. That’s where you’ll find manhole covers not stamped 'Con Edison' or 'Made in India' but embossed with a local manufacturer’s name and signature design motif. Instead of cookie cutter lids that all look alike, these covers turn a utilitarian object into something sublime. One of my favorites is the one at the top of the page by J.B. and J.M. Cornell, a manufacturer of specialty and ornamental ironwork since 1828, according to glassian.com. The address on the cover is that of the company; the cover itself was spotted in Brooklyn Heights. (Patented 1845!) The cover likely had glass over the holes at one time, allowing light through. ..."
Ephemeral New York

Latin Underground Revolution: Swinging Boogaloo, Guaguanco, Salsa & Latin Funk from New York City 1967-1978

"A cooking collection of rare Latin soul tracks from the end of the 60s – and a few great salsa numbers from the 70s underground too. The cover shot is from a Louie Ramirez album from the boogaloo years. It is with great pride and excitement that we bring you Latin Underground Revolution: Swinging Boogaloo, Guaguanco, Salsa & Latin Funk from New York City 1967-1978 triple-45 box set. We have compiled an exciting mix of hard to find dance floor delights showcasing three different eras of latin music in NYC throughout the late 1960s & 1970s."
Holland Tunnel Dive
Discogs (Video)
Rocafort Records (Audio)
YouTube: 107th Street Stickball Team - Let Me Do My Thing

Atlantic City - Louis Malle (1980)

Wikipedia - "Atlantic City is a 1980 French-Canadian romantic crime film directed by Louis Malle. Filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in 1980 and in the United States in 1981. The script was written by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren, Michel Piccoli, and Al Waxman. ... Sally (Susan Sarandon) is a young waitress in an Atlantic City casino who has dreams of becoming a blackjack dealer in Monte Carlo. Sally's estranged husband Dave (Robert Joy) returns to her one day with the intention of selling a large amount of cocaine that he had stolen in Philadelphia and meets Lou (Burt Lancaster), an aging former gangster who lives in Sally's apartment building and runs numbers in poor areas of the city; he also acts as a caretaker for Grace (Kate Reid), a seemingly bedridden aging beauty. Dave convinces Lou to sell the cocaine for him, but as Lou sells the first batch, Dave is attacked and killed by the mobsters from whom he had stolen the drugs. ..."
Wikipedia
NY Times: 'ATLANTIC CITY,' LOUIS MALLE GHOST STORY By VINCENT CANBY (April 3, 1981)
Roger Ebert
YouTube: Atlantic City original trailer

32 North Kentucky Avenue, Atlantic City, New Jersey. W - Club Harlem

Constellation

Johannes Hevelius, Prodromus Astronomia, volume III: Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia, table QQ: Orion, 1690.
Wikipedia - "A constellation is a group of stars that forms an imaginary outline or pattern on the celestial sphere, typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, a god, or an inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellations likely go back to prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, or mythology. Different cultures and countries adopted their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today's constellations were internationally recognized. Adoption of constellations has changed significantly over time. Many have changed in size or shape. Some became popular, only to drop into obscurity. Others were limited to single cultures or nations. The 48 traditional Western constellations are Greek. ..."
Wikipedia
Decatur Area Astronomy Club
W - IAU designated constellations
Stellarium is a free open source

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - Black Times (2017)

"During his lifetime, Fela Kuti, the godfather of Afrobeat, was a cultural icon and one of the leading voices of unrest during the Civil War in Nigeria. He’s the country’s most famous musician, and perhaps its most popular child, too. Now, Seun Kuti, Fela’s youngest son, has emerged to carry his father’s legacy. He’s the current leader of Fela’s old band, Egypt 80, a group that changed its name from Africa 70 after Fela sensed a need to educate his audience on Egypt’s contributions to the world. While it’d make sense for the child of a celebrity to run from such parental weight, Seun has embraced it fully, tying his identity to his father’s. ... Seun’s philosophy is mostly aligned with his father’s because the current political situation in Nigeria reflects the fight Fela engaged in during the 1960s and ‘70s. ..."
On “Black Times,” Afrobeat Artist Seun Kuti Extends His Father’s Legacy (Audio)
Seun Kuti's 'Black Times' Is About "Knowing Who You Are As A Motherland Person In This World Today" (Video/Audio)
Discogs (Video)
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: Black Times (Live on KEXP)
YouTube: Black Times (Full Album) 1:01:10

The Economy Is Leaving Young People Behind

"Then the Great Recession hit, wiping out trillions of dollars in middle-class wealth, young people weren’t spared. They graduated into the weakest labor market since the 1930s, lost homes that many had just purchased, and accumulated an ever-growing pile of student debt that could not be discharged despite their financial distress. Things have gotten somewhat better since the depths of the recession, but young people are still worse off than they were decades ago. Their diminished economic position is apparent across a range of metrics. First, here is median net worth for young families. I included both the net worth concept used by the Federal Reserve and a modified net worth concept that excludes vehicles. Insofar as vehicles are rapidly depreciating consumer durables, many argue that they should not be counted as assets for these purposes. ..."
Jacobin

Macondo Mix: Pharoah’s World

"Hailing from Rome, Florence based, Simona Faraone is one of the first women to have undertaken the DJ career in Italy and Europe. Refined digger of cutting-edge sounds, she started a long and respected militancy in the Italian underground scene in 1987, with a background deeply rooted in the African-American music and an eclectic, original style. As an activist in the Italian club culture, she’s seen the birth and partaken in almost all the electronic music movements: from the seminal house and techno-rave, across the progressive detour, until the manifold forms of contemporary electronica. ... Her very own project of 'Phonographic Editions From Tomorrow’s World' called New Interplanetary Melodies was born in 2016 paying tribute to the unique and visionary approach of Sun Ra. It’s an experimental, free, transversal, and contaminated imprint which aims at promoting the sound of brilliant unconventional music producers and musicians, to create a parallel dimension in the world of modern independent sounds. ..."
Musica Macondo (Audio)

Dakota War of 1862

Wikipedia - "The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of Dakota (also known as the eastern 'Sioux'). It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota, four years after its admission as a state. Throughout the late 1850s in the lead-up to the war, treaty violations by the United States and late or unfair annuity payments by Indian agents caused increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. ... A military tribunal quickly tried the men, sentencing 303 to death for their crimes. President Lincoln would later commute the sentence of 264 of them. The mass hanging of 38 Dakota men was conducted on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota; it was the largest mass execution in United States history. ..."
W - Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota Sioux Execution Was The Largest In U.S. History — But America Has Forgotten It
YouTube: DAKOTA 38 - Full Movie

1904 painting "Attack on New Ulm" by Anton Gag

2011 July: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown, 2012 September: The Ghost Dance, 2016 September: A History and Future of Resistance, 2016 November: Dakota Access Pipeline protests, 2016 December: Police Violence Against Native Americans Goes Far Beyond Standing Rock, 2016 December: Dakota Protesters Say Belle Fourche Oil Spill 'Validates Struggle', 2017 January: A Murky Legal Mess at Standing Rock, 2017 January: Trump's Move On Keystone XL, Dakota Access Outrages Activists, 2017 February: Army veterans return to Standing Rock to form a human shield against police, 2017 February: Standing Rock is burning – but our resistance isn't over, 2017 March: Dakota Access pipeline could open next week after activists face final court loss, 2017 April: The Conflicts Along 1,172 Miles of the Dakota Access Pipeline, 2017 May: 'Those are our Eiffel Towers, our pyramids': Why Standing Rock is about much more than oil, 2017 June: Dakota pipeline protesters won a small victory in court. We must fight on, 2018 February: PHOTOS: Since Standing Rock, 56 Bills Have Been Introduced in 30 States to Restrict Protests

John Prine - Everybody (1972)

"While out sailing on the ocean
While out sailing on the sea
I bumped into the Savior
And He said pardon me
I said 'Jesus you look tired'
He said 'Jesus so do you,
Sit down son
'Cause I got some fat to chew'"
YouTube: Everybody

2010 February: John Prine, 2011 October: John Prine - 1, 2012 May: Diamonds in the Rough., 2013 September: Sweet Revenge (1973), 2016 February: "Souvenirs" - John Prine & Steve Goodman (1973)

Poet Among Painters by James Schuyler

Frank O'Hara
"I first met Frank O'Hara at a party at John Myers' after a Larry Rivers opening: de Kooning and Nell Blaine were there, arguing about whether it is deleterious for an artist to do commercial work. I was most impressed by the company I was suddenly keeping. A very young-looking man came up and introduced himself (I had already read a poem by Frank in Accent, the exquisitely witty 'Three Penny Opera,' written either at Harvard or at Michigan.) He asked me if I had read Janet Flanner that week in the New Yorker, who had just disclosed the scandal of Gide's wife burning all his letters to her. 'I never liked Gide,' Frank said, 'but I didn't realize he was a complete shit.' This was rich stuff, and we talked a long time; or rather, as was so often the case, he talked and I listened. His conversation was self-propelling and one idea, or anecdote, or bon mot was fuel to his own fire, inspiring him verbally to blaze ahead, that curious voice rising and falling, full of invisible italics, the strong pianist's hands gesturing with the invariable cigarette. ..."
This Recording
PennSound - USA: Poetry Films by Robert O. Moore, 1966 (Video)

Washington Square - Henry James (1880)

Wikipedia - "Washington Square is a short novel by Henry James. Originally published in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, it is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, unemotional father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble. The book is often compared with Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was not a great fan of Washington Square. He tried to read it over for inclusion in the New York Edition of his fiction (1907–1909) but found that he could not, so the novel was not included. Readers, though, have sufficiently enjoyed the book to make it one of the more popular of James' works. ..."
Wikipedia
NY Times: Discussing ‘Washington Square,’ by Henry James
Henry James and Washington Square
Henry James’s (and Later William Wyler’s) Washington Square
[PDF] Washington Square

Frank M. Ingalls, New York City: Washington Square Park and arch, Double-decker buses visible, ca. 1901-1930.

2018 January: The Bostonians (1886), 2018 September: The Golden Bowl (1904)

"Habibi Funk 004 Mix" by Jannis of Jakarta Records (Mix of Arabic 70s & 80s vinyl)

"In the last couple of month I had the privilege to be able to travel a lot for DJ gigs and in order to find Fadoul's family (the fruits of this labour can be found here. I spent some time in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. This mix is some of the music I found, a few trades are in there too. It's quite a colorful range. Disco from Algeria and Morocco, a James Brown cover from Egypt, a modern soul meets reggae hybrid from Tunisia, a new Fadoul track that the internet doesn't seem to know of yet and some other great bits and pieces. Come along to another journey to the funky side of the arab world....."
Soundcloud (Audio)
okay africa (Audio)
YouTube: "Habibi Funk 004 Mix"

Tex-Mex

Wikipedia - "Tex-Mex (from Texan and Mexican) is a fusion of Mexican and American cuisines, deriving from the culinary creations of the Tejano people living in Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United States to the rest of the country as well as Canada. Tex-Mex is most popular in Texas and neighboring areas, especially nearby states in both the US and Mexico. ... Some ingredients are common in Mexican cuisine, but other ingredients not typically used in Mexico are often added. Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of shredded cheese, meat (particularly beef, pork and chicken), beans, peppers and spices, in addition to flour tortillas. Dishes such as Texas-style chili con carne, nachos, cripsy tacos, and fajitas, are all Tex-Mex inventions. ..."
Wikipedia
What's the Difference Between Tex-Mex and Mexican Food?
YouTube: How the World's Most Authentic Tex-Mex is Made — Cooking in America

16 Bag Of Soul Merry Christmas

"Southern Cookin was an obscure soul/funk group who released one and only album on Polydor Records in 1979. Southern Cookin were Jimmy Jules, Gene Williams, Ronnie Dents, Alosia Joseph and Ann Johnson. Many collectors and fans of soul and funk music know Jimmy Jules from the mid 70s when he released an album entitled 'Xtmas done got funky' under the name Jimmy Jules And The Nuclear Soul System with Jackie Spencer on his own label called Jim Gem Records. ..."
Soul Dennis
YouTube:
Jimmy Jules & The Nuclear Soul System With Jackie Spencer - Xmax Done Got Funky
Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa
RUN-DMC - Christmas In Hollis
Little Milton - Lonesome Christmas
Eddie C. Campbell - Santa's Messin' With The Kid
Santa - Lightnin' Hopkins
The Soul Saints Orchestra - Santa's Got A Bag Of Soul
Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run
Albert King - Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin
The Jive Turkeys - Get Down Santa
Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto - James Brown
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues
Jacob Miller & Ray I - All I Want For Ismas
Christmas In Jail - The Youngsters
Funky Funky Christmas - Electric Jungle

Alistair MacLeod

Wikipedia - "Alistair MacLeod, OC FRSC (July 20, 1936 – April 20, 2014) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and academic. His powerful and moving stories vividly evoke the beauty of Cape Breton Island's rugged landscape and the resilient character of many of its inhabitants, the descendants of Scottish immigrants, who are haunted by ancestral memories and who struggle to reconcile the past and the present. MacLeod has been praised for his verbal precision, his lyric intensity and his use of simple, direct language that seems rooted in an oral tradition. ... In 2000, MacLeod's two books of short stories, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (1976) and As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories (1986), were re-published in the volume Island: The Collected Stories. MacLeod compared his fiction writing to playing an accordion. ..."
Wikipedia
Alistair MacLeod Interviewed

2011 June: The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair MacLeod, 2016 February: Island (2001), 2016 October: Alistair MacLeod - No Great Mischief (1999)

New label Zel Zele launches with holy grail Turkish jazz-funk 7″

"London-based DJs Debora Ipekel and Ece Duzgit are launching new label Zel Zele with the release of Ümit Aksu Orkestrası’s 1975 orchestral jazz-funk roller ‘Bermuda Şeytan Ücgeni’ on a limited 7″, backed with a psychedelic ode to Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge, ‘Boğaziçi Köprüsü’. Bringing together a selection of Turkey’s most talented musicians under the guidance of pianist, arranger and songwriter Ümit Aksu, both tracks make experimental use of an FBT brand synthesizer, brought to Turkey from Italy by Aksu’s son. Moving from Blaxploitation soundtrack to Sun Ra-esque synth wig-out, you can hear ‘Bermuda Şeytan Ücgeni’ below. According to Debora and Ece, Zel Zele will continue to release genre and era-hopping music 'that knows no borders, race, gender or genre… bringing the old and the new, from the dustiest of crates to fresh music, with its non linear sound.' Ümit Aksu Orkestrası’s ‘Bermuda Şeytan Ücgeni’ is released on 7″ on 19th October. Pre-order a copy here and check out the striking, original 1975 artwork below."
Vinyl Factory (Audio)
Bermuda Şeytan Üçgeni by Ümit Aksu Orkestrası (Audio)
Soundcloud: Zel Zele Mixtape #1 – Grup Ses 37:26

You? Me? Us? - Richard Thompson (1996)

"... In anyone else’s hands, You? Me? Us? would be an epic bring-down. Even Thompson risks overplaying his hand by splitting this 19-track double CD into separate amplified ('Voltage Enhanced') and acoustic ('Nude') discs. The division of mood seems arbitrary in places. ... Of the two versions of 'Razor Dance,' the hot splatter of blood and tears on the electric take better suits the song’s deceptively exuberant chorus and sense of mounting crisis. But there is both good sense and emotional resolution, however fragile, in Thompson’s programming, and his singing and playing — supported by a small top-drawer cast, including the great British stand-up bassist Danny Thompson (no relation), drummer Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello’s Attractions and an old Fairport Convention band mate of Thompson’s, guitarist Simon Nicol — are uniformly marvelous. ..."
Rolling Stone
W - You? Me? Us?
Discogs
amazon, iTunes
YouTube - The Ghost of You Walks, Cold Kisses, Dark Hand Over My Heart, Baby Don't Know What To Do With Herself, She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair
YouTube: You? Me? Us? 19 videos

2011 July: Shoot Out the Lights - Richard and Linda Thompson, 2012 February: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, 2014 March: Videowest 81, 2015 October: Richard & Linda Thompson - Rafferty's Folly (1980), 2015 December: Rumor and Sigh (1991), 2016 March: Hand of Kindness (1983)

The 2018 Progressive Honor Roll

From left: Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib. Illustration by Louisa Bertman.
"Progressives were on the march in 2018. They weren’t just resisting Trump; they were outlining the alternative to Trumpism. They weren’t just winning the battle of ideas by moving Medicare for All and Fight for $15 proposals into the mainstream; they were winning battles at the ballot box as well. The fight for the future is far from over, but 2018 offered signs that it can and will be won. The Nation’s 2018 Progressive Honor Roll recognizes the dissidents and the strategists, the veteran campaigners and the next-gen leaders who are charting the course. ..."
The Nation

Turner and Constable: The Inhabited Landscape

J.M.W. Turner, Wolf's Hope, Eyemouth (c. 1835)
"... J.M.W. Turner traveled widely throughout Britain and Europe, capturing the wonders of the world including the rivers of France, the Alps of Switzerland, and the canals of Venice. He began his career as a topographical draughtsman, for which attention to detail and accuracy were paramount. His style evolved in order to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. Turner’s late oil paintings and watercolors verge on abstraction and are often erroneously thought to have inspired the French Impressionists: for all his travels, his paintings were little known outside of England. Critics of Turner’s day were largely uncomplimentary. ... John Constable endeavored to capture the essence of nature in his landscapes, inspired by the countryside around East Bergholt. Writing to his close friend John Fisher, he related: 'Still I should paint my own places best; painting is with me but another word for feeling, and I associate ‘my careless boyhood’ with all that lies on the banks of the Stour; those scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful….' ..."
The Clark
Art History News

John Constable, The Wheat Field, 1816

November 2007: J. M. W. Turner, 2009 April: Turner & Italy, 2011 June: J. M. W. Turner - 1, 2014 June: In Which We Find His Theory Of Color Implausible, 2014 September: The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free, 2015 May: Mr. Turner (2014), 2018 November: The Slave Ship (1840), 2008 July: John Constable, 2014 November: The Hay Wain, 2009 October: Hay in Art, 2010 March: Van Gogh Museum, 2010 May: Why preserve Van Gogh's palette?, 2012 April: Van Gogh Up Close, 2015 May: Van Gogh and Nature, 2016 January: Van Gogh's Bedrooms, 2016 November: Wheat Fields - Van Gogh series. 

Cedric 'Im' Brooks And The Divine Light - From Mento To Reggae To Third World Music (1973)

" First time on CD for this rare vintage session from saxophonist extraordinaire Cedric ‘im’ Brooks recorded in 1973 at Randy’s Studio, 17 North Parade, Kingston, Jamaica and produced by the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica plus three tracks added to the original ten track vinyl produced by Clive Chin. The songs selected trace the development from mento, through JA R&B, ska, rocksteady and reggae. A fascinating album. ..."
Holland Tunnel Dive
Discogs (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Satta Massa Gana, Let's Do Rock Steady, Steaming, Schooling The Duke, Put It On

Meet Henry Darger, the Most Famous of Outsider Artists, Who Died in Obscurity, Leaving Behind Hundreds of Unseen Fantasy Illustrations and a 15,000-Page Novel

"In his cheeky invention of a character called Marvin Pontiac, an obscure West African-born bluesman, the avant-garde composer and saxophonist John Lurie created 'a wry and purposeful sendup of the ways in which critics canonize and worship the disenfranchised and bedeviled,' Amanda Petrusich writes at The New Yorker. Lurie's satire shows how the critical fetish for outsider artists has a persistent emphasis: a hyperfocus on 'misshapen yet pervasive ideas' about class, race, education, and ability as markers of primitive authenticity. The term 'outsider art' can sound patronizing and even predatory, laden with assumptions about who does and who does not deserve inclusion and agency in the art world. Outsider art gets collected, exhibited, catalogued, and sold, usually accompanied by a semi-mythology about the artist’s fringe circumstances. ..."
Open Culture (Video)
W - Henry Darger
Salon - "Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal" by John M. MacGregor
On Henry Darger’s 15,000-Page Novel
amazon: Henry Darger

“Untitled” (mid 20th century), watercolor, pencil, carbon tracing, and collage on pierced paper, 24 x 106 1/2 in.

The End of Europe? - Thomas L. Friedman

Yellow Vest protesters clashed with the police in Paris on Saturday.
"PARIS — Ever since World War II, the liberal global order that has spread more freedom and prosperity around the world than at any other time in history has been held up by two pillars: the United States of America and the United Nations of Europe, now known as the European Union. Both of these centers of free markets, free people and free ideas are being shaken today by rural and beyond-the-suburbs insurgencies of largely white working-poor and anxious middle classes, which have not generally benefited from the surges in globalization, immigration and technology that have lifted superstar cities like London, Paris and San Francisco and their multicultural populations. ..."
NY Times

2018 December: Paris Burning, 2018 December: Yellow vests movement

Travelers of Al-Andalus, Part II: Abu Hamid Al-Garnati’s World of Wonders

"Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Suleiman ibn Rabi al-Qaysi, known more conveniently to posterity as Abu Hamid Al-Garnati and so named after his hometown of Granada ('Garnata'), sailed, caravanned, traded and trekked from the Arab West to the northern- and easternmost reaches of the Islamic world and beyond. Born in the year 1080 under the last of the Zirid kings, he was a merchant and a scholar who, in a 90-year lifetime, wrote on a variety of subjects in two works following the literary tradition called kutub al-‘aja’ib in Arabic, or 'books of wonder'—a genre that he helped to define. As one might expect from the name, a 'book of wonders' is not only what one sees and hears on one’s travels, but also what one could not have possibly seen because it did not then nor did it ever exist. At the same time, these 'wonders'—of legendary places, mythical people and wholly imagined events—make for good reading. ..."
Aramco World

2016 March: Travelers of Al-Andalus, Part VI: The Double Lives of Ibn al-Khatib, 2017 April: Travelers of Al-Andalus, Part I: The Travel Writer

Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings (2018)

"Jazz drummer Makaya McCraven could not possibly have predicted that the release date of his new album, Universal Beings, would coincide with a week of domestic terrorist acts fueled by racism, anti-semitism, and anti-immigration hysteria. Though his album’s 'all-encompassing message of unity, peace & power' would be welcome at any time, it is particularly transformative at this moment as a reminder of our shared humanity and the need to bridge cultural divides. The double CD is divided into four distinct sections, organized around recording sessions in New York, Chicago, London and Los Angeles. Makaya, who was born in Paris, France to expat American jazz drummer Stephen McCraven and Hungarian singer Agnes Zsigmondi, sought other globally-minded musicians for these four ensembles. ..."
Black Grooves (Video/Audio)
Makaya McCraven's Utopian Vision of Jazz Could Change the World (Video/Audio)
Discogs
amazon, spotify
Mondria An Jazz: Makaya McCraven Boiler Room London Live Set (Video)

Newen Afrobeat

"Meet Newen Afrobeat, one of the first Chilean Afrobeat ensembles. Formed in 2009, they have a firm foothold in the Latin American response to the style created by Fela Kuti and brought to the continent with the arrival of West African slaves. The union of the African tradition with Chilean musical heritage is reflected in the band name. ‘Newen’ is taken from Mapudungan, – the language of one of the main indigenous communities in Chile, the Mapuche people. It means the force or spirit that manifests itself within every person. Their music represents Afrobeat with an extra potency. Formed of close to 20 musicians, Fela Kuti’s famous warcry 'Music is the weapon' resonates in their every rhythm. ..."
Música Macondo (Audio/Video)
W - Newen Afrobeat
Discogs (Video)
amazon: Newen Afrobeat
YouTube: Newen Afrobeat feat. Seun Kuti & Cheick Tidiane Seck - Opposite People (Fela Kuti)(Live)
YouTube: Newen Afrobeat - Full Album 56:57, Newen Plays Fela 25:48