We were absolutely stoked when Ali Farka Touré passed away at the end of 2007, the world has instantly become harder to bear without the wisdom coming from the Malian lion. So imagine the exuberance when our friends from World Circuit announced the posthumous sequel to Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté’s collaboration and sent us the single, Kala Djula. Diabaté, the virtuoso kora player and band leader as you all know, is the crown holder of Malian music after Farka’s death and although a posthumous release is never equal to having Farka back, it still is fantastic to hear more music from the man. Out in February 2010.

Continuing to revive some posts from the archives, especially from the bestof category which gets frequented a lot, now that the end of year season is upon us.

TLOBF reports :

All Tomorrow’s Parties announced Mr. Matt Groening, that guy behind the Simpsons and Futurama, as a curator for ATP UK Weekend 1 at Butlins, Minehead on May 7th – 9th 2010, some time back, but had yet to confirm which acts he’d chosen to play. Well, the wait is over as he’s picked the first acts for his weekend:

BOREDOMS performing Boadrum – 9 Drummer Show
The Raincoats
Toumani Diabate
Danielson (formerly Danielson Family)
James Blackshaw
Anni Rossi
Viv Albertine’s Limerence (formerly of The Slits)

No wonder Simpsons and Futurama are the best cartoons ever created the guy has a rock solid & diverse musical taste, James Blackshaw and Toumani Diabate on the same lineup, WIN! Big ups to Matt Groening!. Also on Guardian.

It’s like a full moon madness when one of your favourite bands has a new release on your favourite label. Asheville, NC power trio Ahleuchatistas‘ (pronounciation tip : the name comes from the Charlie Parker song “Ah-leu-cha”) fifth full length called Of the Body Prone is hands down the best mathcore/improv album this year to grace your speakers, and it might be the most balanced of their full buffet. Ahleuchatistas takes math rock’s erratic features to extreme levels while retaining melody and musicality, only to destroy it a few bars later and found something new. For the untrained ear it might be hard to follow, because of the hectic pace, but repeat listens put forth the complexity and compositional power. There’s a whole bunch of intellectualism on reviews, name dropping Gödel, Deleuze and Adorno, you might head to their myspace if you want to delve further into theory, but these two lines are enough talk about the music, say I.

Our fifth album mixes improvisation and tightly controlled jump cut composition, and is the debut album for drummer Ryan Oslance. Tight looseness, loose tightness, fresh sounds, fresh directions. Progress. Our richest recording to date.

Icy dark-ambient and drones from Beard Closet a mysterious artist from the North of Canada. Free download on the The Vegetable Kingdom netlabel. Glacial.

Kanada’dan drone,dark-ambient. Pocahaunted,Barn Owl severlerin keyifle dinleyebileceği az bilinen yeni bir sanatçı, TVK netlabel’ından çıkma Amputated Orchestra albümünden.

Born in February 1994 when Xavier Demerliac (guitar and brass) and Jean Stéphane Brosse (piano and accordion) met and transformed into a quintet in 1996, L’Attirail takes Balkan folk & klezmer into new & cinematic territories with their 2007 album Kara Deniz, and continues to do so on their recently released “Wilderness”. And it’s exactly their progressive tone and soundtrackist mentality that sets them apart from traditional Eastern European folklore/ klezmer bands. There’s a distinct Spaghetti Western influence on Wilderness (as the name suggests) with sliding guitars and galloping rhythms; I may not be correct but I sense an instrumental Calexico in there. 15 tracks of quality balkan-jazz-pop that unfortunately lacks in a bit in the memorable pieces department. Out on Les Chantiers Sonores

“Every album is conceived as a musical road-movie between Paris, Moscow and Istanbul. ‘L’Attirail’ band ‘s music throws a bridge between two opposite worlds : country life and big cities, trip and slow progress, the Eastern and Western European countries, tradition and modernity, reality and dream…”

ED : Debut post by our new recruit Utku who specializes in drone, sludge, ambient, doom jazz.

Krzysztof Orluk (b. 1986) is a young talent from Poland composing in minimal, ambient and drone styles. Two songs off his latest album Blurred Reflection on Databloem.

Incredibly rich, minimal ambient/glitch in the vein of Off The Sky, Blamstrain, Biosphere, Shuttle358.
Krzysztof’s sound is a compromise between digital machines and field recordings. Apart from this he uses orchestral sounds, opera recordings, different pianos and synthesizers, bells, old vinyl’s and artificial cracks and noises.

Krzysztof Orluk Polonya’dan 1986 doğumlu genç bir müzisyen. Yaptığı müzik ise, dinlendirici, minimal, ambient ve yer yer drone etkisi görülen hissiyatı yüksek bir müzik. Dinleyici oldukça etkileyebilen Blurred Reflection isimli güzel albümden iki parça sizlerle. Albümden üçüncü parça Broken Symmetries ve albümün kapanış parçası the girl with the melody in the head.

A seamless blend of exotic jungle rhythms, easy listening, jazz, space pop, burlesque, japanese music from hawaii. One of our best shows, music that is too precious to be forgotten!

gene rains – harbor lights
douglas wood – moon nightclub
stringtronics – dawn mists
ted auletta – taboo
club nisei – ringo oiwake
burlesque music – depression
tak shindo – skylark
lesiman – confronto
minnie riperton – only when i’m dreaming
milt raskin – koko head
teddy randazzo – the girl from uncle
xavier cugat – daiquiri
hermeto pascoal – carinhoso
stolen idols – black orchid
horst jankowski – magali
augie colon – jungle drums
roger roger – coconut coast
the moog beatles – good night
michiko hamumura – banana boat song

For our precious friend Emre Yerlikhan aka babel, whom we lost today at the ripe age of 34. A devout literary fanatic and a bright mind, his place won’t be filled. May his ideas & ideals live on through his friends and may he rest in peace.

UK producer Dom Stanton aka Domu announces that he has quit making music :

The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed. If any of you want to talk to me and know me well enough to have my mobile number then that is still the same, and please feel free to call any time. My other email address I mail from occasionally is still open to tie up any loose ends.

The urban dance community is shaken with this emotional final letter from Domu :

I have had an amazing time. I’ve travelled the world, drank and partied and made a decent living out of entertaining people throughout all of my 20’s. I met some incredible people in cities I never dreamed I would visit, shared my thoughts and collected wisdom from a huge range of deeply profound and lovely people. But I have also met some real arseholes, and I could feel I was becoming one.

We thank him for all the music. Hope he sorts everything up in his life.