Flash Strap Presents: Black Art + Machine Gun Funk Vol. 3

I can't wait for you guys to hear this one. A little more in the way of experimental funk-jazz and politically engaged commentary than the first two in the series, but still deep in that murky, swirling, groove-pocket.

Listen righteously and please come back tomorrow and let me know if you liked it.

PART ONE
1. Synopsis One: In The Ghetto / God Save The World- The 24 Carat Black
2. Everybody's Got A Problem- Father's Children
3. 1990- The Undisputed Truth
4. Skull Session- Oliver Nelson
5. Who Will Survive America- Amiri Baraka
6. Shape Your Mind to Die- Leon Thomas
7. What's Your Word- Gloria Ann Taylor
8. Blasé- Archie Shepp
9. The Young, Tough And Terrible- The Lost Generation
10. Message To Mankind- O.C. Tolbert
11. Freedom- Ndikho Xaba
12. Political Rag- King Solomon
13. Woman Of The Ghetto- Doris Duke

PART TWO
14. Singerella--A Ghetto Fairy Tale- Gary Bartz & NTU
15. Bad Cloud Overhead- Blackrock
16. Here Comes the Family- Archie Shepp
17. Move Your Hand (edit)- Lonnie Smith
18. Taurus (edit for instrumental)- Pt. 1 Cannonball Adderley
19. Sympathy For the Devil- Gangsters of Love
20. Anima Christi- Mary Lou Williams
21. Celestial Blues- Andy Bey
22. Kohoutek- Father's Children
23. This Is The Lost Generation (Vocal)- The Lost Generation
24. Taurus (edit for instrumental) Pt.2- Cannonball Adderley
25. Old Uncle Tom Is Dead- Mr. Wiggles
26. Dr. King, The Peaceful Warrior- Archie Shepp
27. All Hid- Camille Yarbrough

PART ONE • PART TWO

Sven Libaek: Re-upped and Up-dated

As I've been working through re-ups, so I decided to drop all the Libaek in a handy mega-post, so here you go. I don't have to tell you how much I love this man's work. Everything here is utterly essential.

Put these on some tapes. Put a tape in a waterproofed portable cassette player. Take a small boat or aquatic car out upon the water. Or embark on a desert stroll-- if you have no water-bodies in your region-- or a dune buggy ride. Either way, the adventure shall unfold, with delight and discovery, with the aid of these perfect sounds. Good luck to you.

White Horse and Walkabout are surfing and nature documentary soundtracks, respectively. Full of discovery. Two of the consistently best, most necessary records in his catalog-- masterpieces, really. Both 192.

WHITE HORSE
WALKABOUT

Inner Space is a shark documentary soundtrack, and it's a giant masterpiece. Some tracks from here notably used for The Life Aquatic. This is the king of underwater music records.

It should be noted that this is not the retrospective comp of the same name (with "Lost Film Music of Sven Libaek" appended to the title)-- this is the original soundtrack album. Also, this is not the original Aussie Festival release with the William Shatner narration included, which is cool too-- you can grab that here, and I highly recommend that you do-- although this one is probably your #1 choice. This rip is courtesy of Owl, from the Holy Warbles days. 320, of course.

INNER SPACE



Sven's audacious symphonic concept piece, thematically focused on the Norwegian's adopted home. Longer compositions, grander ideas, sweeping and epic-- but still the same glorious composer. Truly, he is a god damn secret genius.

AUSTRALIAN SUITE (320)



Soundtrack to an Australian television series. Very similar to White Horse and Walkabout, with a little more in the way of "action" horns-- but still mostly the Libaek signature sound of outback contemplation and wide-eyed exploration. Used to be hard to find, this one. Really really good.

BONEY (192)





Although perhaps not his most consistent album, this little treasure nonetheless contains some of his best & coolest tracks, including the superb "Misty Canyon", which is an absolute must-hear.

MY THING (224)




Ostensibly a space-themed Library record, the mood here is actually just as underwater-y as his best work. A lot of great sounding old electronics on here too. Includes "Meteoric Rain," one of his all-time greatest tracks, and many more gorgeous jaw-droppers. 256.

SOLAR FLARES




Certainly this is a hit-or-miss effort from Libaek-- there's a lot of vocal tracks, though they aren't bad at all-- but it still has some really cool stuff. One of his best pieces ever is here, the amazing "News From the Exchange." Try it.

Rip originally uploaded by Digital Meltd0wn, check him out and say thanks. You can also check out a longer post on this LP, by me, here.

NICKEL QUEEN (320)



Another great soundtrack, this one to a sort of Australian counterculture film. A surprisingly wide range of emotions and evocations of scene and mood can be found within these 19 selections, all delivered in a warm, jazzy, smoky sound. Velvety, even. Marvellously sophisticated stuff, even for Libaek. Fuckin' fabulous.

Again, I've written a bit more on this one here.

THE SET (192)





Mr. Libaek's phenomenal first record, available over at Urban Bowerbird, a fantastic Australian music blog. This one is rare as hen's teeth and utterly sublime to boot-- a real holy grail. Go there, thank the man, and check out his other treasures.

SVEN LIBAEK at URBAN BOWERBIRD

There's a few other Libaek and Libaek-related things there, including these items:

1966 45 of early versions of "Bush Theme" and "Australian Landscape"

A 45 with Sven's "Northern Territory", recorded by Andy Sundstrom.

A great 1963 Bryce Rohde 45 produced by Sven Libaek.

Exotic Re-ups and the Sophisticated Daydream of Exotica: Jungle Jazz (1958), African Jazz (1959)

I've re-upped everything with the label "exotic" or "exotica." Have a look through, if you haven't already.

To better consecrate the return of these albums, I'm also re-posting these two Baxter records. In an old post, I showered these both pretty qualified praise-- a critical oversight I've since come to regret. These are amazing Exotica artifacts, and positively phenomenal records. When it comes to Baxter, it's all about Tamboo!, Ritual of the Savage, and Caribbean Moonlight-- but these two are just barely behind. So damn great.

Jungle Jazz (128, please let me know if you have a tip on an upgrade-- this one sounds pretty good though)
African Jazz (320)

Always in My Heart: Trio Los Panchos- The Music of Ernesto Lecuona (19??)

I've made it clear my passion for the compositions of Ernesto Lecuona, so it should be no surprise that I love this record. Trio Los Panchos weave an achingly gorgeous, classically romantic, sun-dappled Latin dream with shimmering guitars and floating harmonies. All compositions are vocal versions of Lecuona pieces. This is an endlessly pleasant record to have-- highly recommended. All the songs are wonderful, just grand.

You may have heard one of the tracks, "Canto Karabali", on the first Jungle Shadows comp, if that helps.

And on a related note, does anyone know of a good collection of older Lecuona compositions, preferably recorded by him?

TRIO LOS PANCHOS (128)

Krautrock re-ups

All Krautrock posts now re-upped. Love y'all.

Refilling the Trough With That Cosmic Slop- Re-ups are the order of the day.

All items with the tag "funk" or "soul" are now re-upped. Check them out if you haven't already-- but first, afford this excellent Funkadelic film project a few crazy minutes of your time.

Black Art + Machine Gun Funk 3 is ready to drop any day now, I just gotta get my shit together.

Return of the Black Art Master- Re-ups continue with Archie Shepp

Continuing the re-up renaissance, I've re-upped all the Archie Shepp posts. Also, both the Black Art + Machine Gun Funk comps. (I have a volume three in that series which is basically done, does anyone want to hear it or is enough enough?)

If you have not heard these Shepp albums then please take this opportunity to correct yourself, my darlings.


Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to re-up next, otherwise I'll just keep pluggin' in my own way.