tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46899451217215364082009-11-08T12:22:38.912-06:00Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-27089653607341156962009-10-23T09:22:00.000-05:002009-10-23T09:23:39.221-05:00

A stumbling funky beat and a repeating refrain on the organ that doesn't get boring. A four-second guitar solo once every minute. Provocative wailing from singer Karim Branis. Algerian rockers Les Abranis got back together in 2008 and started touring again after a twenty-five year hiatus.

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-70476375722227974512009-08-27T07:03:00.003-05:002009-08-27T07:06:18.900-05:00

Wow I did not think I'd be writing about this record. Which is funny because I noticed it in the pile next to the turntable. Maybe my unconscious swept that connection under the rug. This is just too much of a monster: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Joe Jones on drums.You might be thinking, why? You wrote about Sun Ra, and Eric Dolphy. Why is 'Round

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-50489559999690078202009-08-26T15:07:00.002-05:002009-08-26T15:10:13.213-05:00

This 45 is somber. A lot of people think dance music and good times when they think 45s. Well, forget it. This is serious and philosophical. Both songs are stark narratives about how lonely it can be to live. I agree. We are all alone, together.Chompin' is a quiet, valient, solitary struggle. This could be the soundtrack section of a Russian or French film. If it's Russian, a lone character is

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-45816491495209015432009-08-25T10:49:00.002-05:002009-08-25T14:40:51.367-05:00

In this age of promotion and bizarre concepts like branding oneself, Dreamland Faces are not PR people. Take for instance their orange CD, which doesn't have their name on the cover and doesn't have a title. There is just a simple drawing of two fighting bunnies. I don't know what year it came out because that's not listed anywhere, either.The names of the songs and the members of the band are on

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-27044216855341536172009-08-22T09:30:00.005-05:002009-08-22T09:49:53.413-05:00

Obviously this is not the cover art, but I don't have a picture of the cover to show you so here is the group in concert. Also, a slight digression here because this is actually a CD that is mixed in with the records next to the turntable. It's a gift from the band, who stayed with us a few months ago. I missed their show because I was out of town that night, but did see them all the following

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-80815653327117227272009-08-21T09:45:00.003-05:002009-08-21T10:00:26.001-05:00

This is nearing the end of the pile next to the turntable. There is, however, another pile below it that awaits listening. So I'm not worried. And I'm sure you're not. What I'm more concerned about is that Eric Dolphy is a challenge to write about. First of all you can't help but think of his imminent death with a title like Berlin concerts. These recordings were made there in 1961, and Dolphy

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-2331298159675044852009-08-20T09:22:00.004-05:002009-08-20T09:27:40.065-05:00

The first song on side A, Brainville, is such a great start, a walk down a busy street full of fascinating people all going somewhere. Everyone's in a good mood. You are among an intelligent group of people with senses of humor. They like to laugh at situations they find themselves in, and at themselves, sometimes. What a great introduction. You want to stay among these people, keep listening to

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-62082046314337749252009-08-19T08:09:00.003-05:002009-08-19T08:14:18.099-05:00

Moving right along through the stack by the stereo, the next record is a remix of Dr. Octagon's Blue Flowers, given to me by Eric Beaumont, a musician, librarian at the county jail, and record collector. Thanks, Eric! I love this song, and played the hell out of Dr. Octagonecologyst, the album it was on.Kool Keith AKA Dr. Octagon AKA Dr. Dooom is probably one of the more eccentric hip hop stars

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-38479123841107949012009-08-18T09:13:00.005-05:002009-08-18T09:27:06.588-05:00

After Herbie Hancock's Treasure Chest is Duke Ellington, "Rockin' in Rhythm" vol. 3 (1929-1931). I don't have the other volumes; I've never thought to look for them but now that I think about it I am wanting them. This is the last in the series, according to the liner notes. Anyway early Duke Ellington is the best, I think. But he was always great. He did so much and he was always well dressed.

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-46739097371951549462009-08-17T09:38:00.001-05:002009-08-17T09:40:07.565-05:00

Songs from Fat Albert Rotunda, Mwandishi, and Crossings are all on this album, released in 1974 and the third in the pile next to the turntable. To me there really is no other music like Herbie Hancock's, especially this, the earlier work. The Miles Davis influence is definitely there - Hancock left his group in 1968. Otherwise the songs are pretty far out, in a Sun Ra way but not at all like The

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-27006072988485604942009-08-16T09:13:00.004-05:002009-08-16T09:18:15.402-05:00

Second record in the pile next to the turntable: Kirk's Work. This is from 1961, before Roland Kirk added Rahsaan to his name. On this album he's playing tenor sax, manzello, strich, flute, and siren. For some reason this reminds me that there is a music school for the blind (Kirk was blind) in Mexico City, in the Centro Histórico. Because of this there are good street musicians in the

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-25135767776170536532009-08-15T09:51:00.004-05:002009-08-15T09:58:59.740-05:00

After such a lengthy hiatus from Here to Hear, it's a bit of a challenge to start posting again. As a point of departure, this is the first record in the pile next to the turntable.He Soul SoundThese are the only words in English on the cover, aside from RECORD at the bottom. There's a lot of text in Korean, and a great mid-60's photo of a two girls singing. Actually and even better, it is the

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-58727917229504813682009-06-17T14:28:00.002-05:002009-06-17T14:34:08.153-05:00

This is one of those bring-out-the-heavyweights-and-make-a-summer-hit songs, or "The G Mix" of Birdman's "Always Strapped," according to the intro. It just seems like hype for a message that's definitely not peace and love, but I still love Lil' Wayne and I dig Rick Ross's style. He wears lots of cool glasses and he's got an amulet that's a portrait of himself. Here he manages to make a baseball

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-73693607394135648102009-06-01T23:31:00.005-05:002009-06-02T00:07:11.549-05:00

The YouTube embedding code for Metro Station's "Shake It" is "disabled by request" and this probably because SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT put it up there. No big deal. I don't want to talk about the music anyway but rather the styles in the video. It's a real mid-80s melee of scrawny Ramones types (the face piercings are historically inaccurate and so is the vest with nothing under it), Rude Boys

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-82643218832725297742009-05-25T21:54:00.005-05:002009-06-03T13:30:07.062-05:00

Remember that cool Oran Gencebay clip I posted a couple months ago? Turkish singers are the sultry best! Since I don't understand Turkish (I did however teach myself over 100 words in Turkish during a 3-week visit), I didn't have any hard facts for you about this film or the singer.Lucky us, though. Soner wrote me with this wealth of information about Gencebay and Aski Ben Mi Yarattim, the film

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-63508739008418569132009-05-25T17:11:00.009-05:002009-05-25T21:41:25.663-05:00

I never got into Depeche Mode but my sister did. She was also really into the color peach at that time. Then later later later I went through a phase of constantly listening to my coworker Stacy's copy of K&D Sessions while on the job. There's an amazing remix of Useless on there that always made me think I had missed out on the Mode. That guy is a good singer. They are so funnily serious here in

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-83158552815912770802009-05-21T22:37:00.002-05:002009-05-21T22:56:53.679-05:00

What's going on? Why hasn't there been a post on here for weeks? No answer.The last music-y thing I did or listened to was a show at which Bobby Conn and The Chain played. Bobby Conn and Monica Bou Bou experimented with some new songs using laptop backup. I liked this pared-down show with just her violin, his guitar, and their solid singing. The Chain played a good show too. They recently put a

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-42148899938057217542009-04-26T05:15:00.005-05:002009-04-27T10:03:14.939-05:00

I love this Orhan Gencebay video. Especially the studio scenes. I'm guessing it must be from an old Turkish movie. I would love to see this film and others like it.You don't have to understand Turkish to follow the narrative here, or to appreciate how this clip combines music video with film scenes. As the song begins, a lovely redhead irons Orhan Gencebay's shirt with an ecstatic smile.

Didierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901489655315041097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-28831478325935312692009-04-20T03:18:00.003-05:002009-04-26T10:38:00.941-05:00

I'm not sure what to say about this video, except that it's super interesting. The dancers' movements are so understated and a perfect complement to the singer's full-out shouting. Also, you might think that the women are adjusting their scarves because of the blowing wind, but there are some Mauritanian videos out there where women are inside sitting still and clapping and they still continually

Didierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901489655315041097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-2614144049579879562009-04-17T23:18:00.004-05:002009-04-18T00:17:33.186-05:00

This week MONRAKPLENGTHAI posted a cassette by ยอดรัก สลักใจ (yodrak salakchai). As usual, there's a succint paragraph jam packed with info, the tape cover, track listing in Thai followed by phonetic spelling in Roman letters, and a song to preview. What a fantastically with-it blog! Why can't there be more stuff like it?รับครึ่งเดียว (rap khrueng dieow), the Yodrak Salakchi song preview at

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-61363247086632620662009-04-09T22:13:00.004-05:002009-04-17T21:58:59.962-05:00

This was supposed to be the second installment of my loose translation of Gainsbourg's appearance on Le jeu de la vérité back in 1984. But it didn't work out that way. Because the Serge Gainsbourg obsession is multifaceted and doesn't follow a straight and narrow path.I knew that Serge Gainsbourg did a reggae album in '79, went to Kingston and recorded with Sly and Robbie, using Bob Marley's

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-32251657544032624602009-04-01T18:58:00.002-05:002009-04-01T19:02:06.712-05:00

If I breathe every three seconds: somehow the start to the chorus just doesn't sound as good in English. Luckily there are the fuzzy, hazy streets of Paris, Benday dots, fast-spinning clocks that make me think of the woman counting the minutes in Louis Chédid's 1984 video for Hold-up, and a trip on the Charles de Gaulle-Étoile Nation line that morphs into a roller coaster ride. And the blipping

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-60247903483530821962009-03-31T15:56:00.008-05:002009-04-01T09:50:03.486-05:00

I've recently been thinking concurrently about the Venetian Renaissance masterpiece Hyperotomachia Poliphili and cute hip-hop mama Rye Rye. There seems to be some connection there, somewhere. Then I came across this Rye Rye Dirty Dancing video mash-up that Adam Murfet made, and the Eros/Venus/hot-and-awkward dance floor action all joined together, from Venice, 1499 to the Catskills in the '80s to

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-70067075517827786702009-03-26T14:35:00.004-05:002009-03-26T14:45:24.189-05:00

I recently noted that Elis Regina sits the whole time she sings during a performance with Milton Nascimento. The Brazilian music cognoscenti over at Spinning in Air responded with this conjecture as to why, as well as coming up with an educated guess about who the drummer and pianist might be:She was pregnant at the time, per some of the "info." text about that special, over on YouTube.I'd like

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689945121721536408.post-92007694459012263732009-03-21T10:28:00.005-05:002009-03-21T10:55:13.434-05:00

It's 1990. A backup chorus shouts "Yo/Go" on the upbeat and there's a little reverb on Chubb Rock's big vocals as he spreads a positive message: "Leave the guns and have fun." There's a crazy honking synth solo about three minutes in, and Chubb Rock picks up again with, "Well, coming back..." and rocks the last refrain. It all ends with some swooping violins tightly looped. Where'd they come from

Kiki Eleanorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998896491839873249theheretohear@gmail.com