30/12/2011

Elephantine Vital Force


The elephant would have turned 60 today. Pepe Kalle (December 30, 1951 - November 28, 1998) aka "La Bombe Atomique", "The Giant Of Africa", "L'éléphant de la musique congolaise", "The Elephant Of Zaire"... 2.10 meter high, 140 kilos. May the above video stand as a reminder of his overwhelming vital force - only defeated by death.

Cochabamba Mortal Mix

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 (2008). The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qucha, meaning "lake", and pampa, "open plain". Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round. It is also known as "La Llajta", "town" in Quechua.

Cochabamba was featured in the 1983 film Scarface. Powerful drug lord Alejandro Sosa resided there, governed large coca plantations and owned cocaine labs where upon further refining, would be shipped to Tony Montana in Florida. Cochabamba is also mentioned in the documentary The Corporation, about their fight against privatisation of water by a foreign-owned company. The privatisation had gone to such an extent that even rain water was not allowed to be collected. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Mortal Mix is a 30 min road movie in three parts, investigating the representation of Cochabamba's urban and countryside landscapes seen from the street/road level, exploring the city as a mythological entity and natural surroundings as a source of life. It also provides interesting documentary views on local habits and food preferences. The whole thing being driven forward by an intense mix of fast-pulsating hits. Great sound, nice mixing, not fucking around too much but going straight to the point instead. Number 2 might be our favourite. Check it from 8:00 to 9:30 to catch its beauty.





soy cochala, me encuentro lejos de la tierra que me vio nacer...... estoy en catalunya (barcelona). saber que estas canciones aun se escuchan y se sienten, es como si uno retroceria el tiempo atras. te recuerda de todooooooooo y de todos tus amigossssssssss y vecinossssssssss que lindooooo

14/12/2011

A Look at the Future (Vol. 2) - Introducing Hugo Freegow



MESSAGE TO OUR FOLKS - While guns were bursting over Luik yesterday, we received this message from local hero Hugo Freegow in the mailbox. Citizens, take note. Hugo's first mix for Music City works as a traveler's guide to outer space.

A Look at the Future (Vol. 2)
Compiled and mixed by Hugo Freegow

Citoyens! Tenez-vous prêts pour une plongée dans l'univers surprenant de la "Library Music" (et de ses ramifications). Initialement enregistrées à l'initiative de maisons d'édition dédiées au marché de la licence (pour le cinéma, la télévison ou la radio), la plupart de ces musiques sont longtemps restées inaccessibles au public. Etrange industrie que celle-là, génèrant un flux continu de sons destinés à accompagner des images qui n'existent pas encore, à faire vivre des reportages qu'il reste à réaliser... Souvent crées en fonction d'une thématique particulière, elles laissent généralement leurs créateurs dans l'ombre.

La particularité de ce contexte de production le laisse facilement deviner: le syndrome de la musique d'ascenseur n'est jamais loin. Mais, parfois, il ouvre aussi la porte aux expérimentations les plus folles... C'est tout particulièrement le cas lorsque, dès la fin des années 50, l'électronique fait son entrée dans les studios. Le son se libère de ses attaches physiques, traçant tout naturellement la voie à une esthétique (rétro)futuriste. Des trésors inouis attendent l'auditeur curieux (et patient)! Passé le choc initial, la fascination continuera souvent d'agir comme un poison, incitant à l'exploration rigoureuse des profondeurs abyssales de ce monde méconnu. Quitte à s'y perdre un peu...

- Hugo Freegow

A look at the future (Vol.2) by Hugo Freegow

TRACKLIST
John Baker "Farm management"
Delia Derbyshire "Electrobuild"
Delia Derbyshire "Doctor Who's theme"
John Baker "Factors"
Alain Poinsot "Punaisarium 1"
Bernard Estardy "Tic tac nocturne"
Roger Roger "Sounds industrials 6"
Bernard Fevre "Dali"
Roger Roger & Teperino "Walking Robot"
Jean-Jacques Perrey & Pat Prilly "Altitude-1"
Georges Teperino "Electrosonics Nr 6"
Joel Vandroogenbroeck "Trilobites"
John Hyde "Magma"
Sauveur Mallia "Rectangle Astral"
Bernard Estardy "Night express"
Tod Dockstader "Bottle Dervish"
P. Bonello "Electronic track 5"
Raymond Scott "Cindy Electronium"
Eddie Warner "K.O."
Li De La Russe "Way out"
Ennio Morricone "In un Ricordo"
Cecil Leuter "Raving Waves"
Bernard Fevre "Le monde avait 5 Ans"
Jacques Lasry "Danse des cosmonautes"
+++ Piero Umiliani : "Spazio e Materia (Omaggio ad Einstein)"

A look at the future is a series of mix initiated by Hugo Freegow and François Boulanger (aka Cuppcave, Ssaliva, Kingfisherg) around their common love for Library music.

Picture collage by Manuel Padding.

05/12/2011

New Music City Cassettes



RADIO NUDISM
C 45 / 5 EUR

A collection of priceless documents collected from the sound archives of a Danish nudist radio station from 1993/94. This 45 min mixtape / compilation / radio narrative stands as an audio companion to the exhibition of Massimiliano Bomba, Benjamin Altermatt and Xavier García Bardón curated by Francesco Cavaliere and Marcel Türkowksy at Grimmuseum, Berlin in September 2011. Featuring tracks by the aforementioned nudists and more, this tape has been assembled and spiced up by DJ Bongo Man. Co-released by Grimmuseum, Raw Raw Edizioni, Caleuche Video and Music City in an edition of 120 pro-dubbed copies. Banana picture by Bea De Giacomo.

A few copies of the catalogue of this exhibition (published by Raw Raw Edizioni, Milan) are also available from us. A5 format, indigo print HP7500, Fedrigoni splendorgel paper 115 g, 36 pages. 7 EUR.


DJ BONZAI TARZAN: Un remède radical
Mixtape / C60 / 3 EUR

Bonzai Tarzan has worked as a guardian at Doctor Evariste Ossip Natural History Museum for over twenty years. He usually spends his days at the Tropical Bonzai Forest section nourishing the colony of Liliputean monkeys that live happily amidst the lush foliage, peeling miniature bananas with tweezers and pruning the infinite web of capironas, cercropias, figs, kapok and brazil nut trees. This painstaking, constant and stressful activity led him to develop an unusual relaxation therapy composed of calisthenics and music. Mister Tarzan's Un Remède Radical is a four step music program to relieve a variety of ailments from seasonal disorders to acute boredom. Cover art by Hannah Friese. Pro-dubbed tapes.



DJ BONGO MAN: Choc thermique
Mixtape / C40 / 3 EUR


This new Bongo mix focuses on the 1985-1992 era, compiling tracks from Togo to Congo all displaying a peculiar interest for the use of electronic gear, following a retro forward thinking approach. Topics approached in these songs are: love, fun, faith and the missing homeland. File under: computerized soukous, shangaan jive, kwasa kwasa, digi dancehall. Released on the occasion of DJ Bongo Man Suomi tour, November 2011. I would like to dedicate this tape to all my Finnish friends in Tampere, Jyväskylä and Helsinki: may this one help you fuel the coming Winter with light and positive energy. Home-dubbed tapes, limited run.

Orders: lanouvellecite@gmail.com

02/12/2011

Dub Echoes

This is def the most inspiring part of the documentary:



but you can see the whole thing here: http://documentaryheaven.com/dub-echoes/