Orquesta El Macabeo on El Paso Recs / Peace & Rhythm / Cha Cho Records / Electric Cowbell / Entez Anomic / Discos De Hoy / Lucha Libre Discos

In what I'm positive will be holding the title of the single with the most record labels behind it of all time is this latest from Orquesta El Macabeo, a Puerto Rican twelve piece Salsa band. Ive been following DJ Andujar and his Peace & Rhythm blog for a while and he's always been a fan of the tiny format, in fact I just noticed this interview with Jim from Eectric Cowbell he's got up over there now. He's gone and started his own label to then partner up with six other record companies for this release.

A-Side's "Macacoa" can only be described as precise. That salsa rhythm propels this one, the sheer inertia of the huge percussion section carries this with pin pointed horn burts. DJ Andujar mentioned these guys were metal heads playing prog-salsa and I can see how this is related to a mathy post punk in it's own array of working parts that have to come together perfectly like this cowbell clancking away in front of this. A weird organ solo consisting of the high end with a watery chorus kicked on at one point. I like when my expectations get a little warped by contemporary elements or directions and Orquesta is tweaking things just enough before reeling it back in. I can't keep track of the number of constantly changing melodies piled up over each other and the chorus lyric against the lead has a nice normal depth to it, like it's a democratic space and the people are literally behind this. I never thought about this being as challenging as Dysrhythmia or Don Cab but when you start to pick out the pieces it's maybe even more impressive the number of people involved who have to be in perfect sync. As loose as this sounds, there isn't room for a misstep the rest of the guys are onto the next verse.

B-Side's "No Se Cuando Llegue" has a deeper 'BROWP' from the horns working against a high brassy lens flare with less effect on the vocal on this side. Luis de la Rosa seems to be taking on the melody with a little vibrato in his high register, almost nasal delivery with that salsa rhythm working underneath this. The thing that gets me about this genre is the surgical use of horns, the way they're perfectly dropped in heart stopping jolts. There's a crazy frantic feeling inherent to this and I think if you were serious about drumming especially you would absolutely find yourself here eventually. There's a lot of work in these beats for a number of drummers, the core is concrete but you can work forever on those subtleties and the brass section has to be the most challenging part to get together regularly and work at this level. I have very little reference for this genre but it's easily as difficult as any of the post rock technical bands that are out there.

Pick this up from Peace & Rhythm Records, send DJ Andujar a message over there on Facebook.

G-Flux on Electric Cowbell Records

From what my feeble mind is just barely putting together, Cumbia started as a working class genre in Columbia using an array of instruments on hand rooted in west african percussion and rhythms some sixty years ago. Fast forward to 2008 where Gustavo Naranjo aka G-Flux relocates to the US from Mexico City and brings with him his take on nu-cumbia producing and remixing the heavyweights of the mutating genre showcased in these two tracks with the Guadalajara-based duo Los Master Plus, the kings of cumbiatrónica on the A-Side and Mexico's duo Afrodita and the cumbia-surf guitar legend Jose Luis Carballo.

A real chest cough opens A-Side's "Ritmo Universal". A bouncy echo reverb ends up taking something related to reggae and dancehall roots into entirely new territory. An organ is joined by laser fire in this futuristic Afrika Bambaataa take on Cumbia. It's a "Planet Rock" fusion track that borrows unknown elements from the future for this latin american B-Movie Cramps style rhumba with a big band Cuban horn section. Doubled up female vocals and alien ooah ooah's are delivered from planet heavy echo reverb where they quietly whisper and chant to the end of space over smooth jazz inspired guitar.

"Meneito" opens with appropriately a cowbell on the down beat carving out the space between reggae 2/4 jabs at a sharp synth organ. Heavy dub reverb pings across channels with heavy doses of 8 bit electronics while managing to have that traditional street accordion take over the main melody. It's a real crazy mix of reggaeton dub and electro funk - things that I know nothing about, but there's enough forward looking weirdness to know this isn't one of your dad's 45's. It's squarely placed in contemporary Cumbia with purely electronica elements while the vocals also pay homage to it's trained soul roots while embracing gansta rap. Sort of makes me think the opening introduction and this whole history of Cumbia doesn't even matter. Not to say they don't know these roots but they've been torn up and grafted to another species, creating an entirely new fruit.

Pick this up from Electric Cowbell Records, out today.

Super Hifi / Polyrhythmic's split on Electric Cowbell Records

There was a time when 12 people on stage in The Polyphonic Spree or the 19 members in Broken Social Scene was the norm... even Arcade Fire toured with 9. Maybe it was an attempt to spread around vocal duties or shift the attention away from the idea of a frontman, but you could easily have made a few cuts in the lineup and it wouldn't really have changed the sound. Instead of making a political statement however, both sides of this split on Electric Cowbell Records absolutely need every one of their members to create this full orchestral funk sound.

Super Hi fi on the A-Side does "We Will Begin Again" which takes them back to their minimal guitar sound heard on the "Single Payer" single and that slow jazz alternaitng rim shot. The brass is subdued here in its own sonic space, acting more to fill in the atmosphere until this changes into chorus. An overall lounge sound, the swirls of electronics and high reverb guitar melody lulls you into thinking about a nap. Those horns will wake you up though. There's no kind of lullaby like this slow dub sound. The percussion works the hardest while they start to slow and fade, the combination ultra fast high hat hits and rim shots filling the void. A far off siren drives by the studio while the whole thing picks up and is fed through a bank of speakers underwater, barely struggling and sinking to the bottom.

The B-Side finds The Polyrhythmics track, "Pink Wasabi" with a great percussive guitar sound, a real weird string scratch is the starting place for this similar brass groove. The guitar isn't as rigid in Super Hi-fi, here it's full of phaser effects and free to roam outside the chk chk structure. And the flute? This is a great touch, a real weight it lifted here. Where Super Hi-Fi felt more concerned with building tension, this feels celebratory and free, they are unconsciously expressing a sense of joy and cooperation, there's no hierarchy in this well spirited jam. Organ, flute... there's plenty of directions to go and they'll all get their chance here. Feels like there's a lot more up their sleeve than this four minutes.

Check out samples and pick this up over at Electric Cowbell Records

Super Hi-Fi - "Single Payer" on Electric Cowbell Records

Unlike most punk or rock seven inches, a band like Super Hi-Fi isn't the sort of thing that comes together in a weekend with friends who have no formal training. Not that sometimes it completely works but a five piece funk band with a double trombone section requires a minimum of probably half a century of training to get to the point of Super Hi-Fi. The jazz dub combination of styles takes dedication to first absorb and repeat everything that came before in technique and concepts but then to get anywhere original you have to then basically start over completely. It's an insane, daunting approach that just means they are more dedicated than most of these bands that put out a single and break up before getting rid of the 300 copies. This dedication translates into a heavily crafted, perfectly recorded single on Electric Cowbell.

"Single Payer" is going to reintroduce those familiar with the echo/dub sound that began with King Tubby. They've got heavy rim shot gymnastics and small jabs at an electric guitar with just a single barred chord; the most minimal approach to establish the melody. Fantastic horn work that’s as constructed and exacting as that brief stab on the electric, even getting a little dark with the ultra low-end brass. Low blows working in a way most bass lines can't get to in its combination of brightness and groove. Drawing on that jazz tradition of establishing the melody and then breaking it down and exploring every permutation. Muted and fragmented like this electric rhythm, it's a strange kind of tropicalia, with the echo veering into space. Interesting sampled delays work in but these horns are the stars almost taking over the absent vocal, singing across scales with the same range of emotion.

“Singe Payer - Victor Rice Dub Part II”, isolates that horn section to set expectations to start up the melody and drop it out, delaying the echo a thousand fold, bringing the high-hat out to the front. The echo's of these sounds folding in on themselves exponentially complicate the rhythms. Keeping this weird tension in repeatedly starting and stopping at odd intervals, it's own timing recreated out of the main hits with every delay at it's own irregular speed. Like a cars engine turning over, is it going to make it? Hesitating to catch while the disc keeps spinning. A fog horn bleat from a heavy manipulated trombone because Victor's willing to tamper with the very speeds and source. Chopping up dub to an almost inhuman electronic degree, in an attempt to take back some of the precision Super Hi-Fi brought to the table. Were they too natural, too organic? He's got to whip this track back into mechanical shape leaving no trace whatsoever of the hands that shaped it.

Get this from Electric Cowbell Records, looks like they have a full length from these guys as well.

Slavic Soul Party on Electric Cowbell Records

Imagine nine people in a band, on tour, jammed into a van. Crisscrossing around the country, sharing hotel rooms…tetris-ing every free square inch of space on that vehicle for the giant cases holding trombones, accordions, trumpets... Slavic Soul Party might not have to worry about electronics and amps, but I can’t imagine that relationship dynamics are any easier than most three pieces out there, although maybe they’ve hit just the right number of people to be able to just about get to know each other by the time the tour is over. The ensemble describes themselves as a Balkan soul gypsy funk and these two tracks take that indescribable combination and apply it to original compositions on Electric Cowbell Records.

A-Side, "Jackson" on vinyl comes off like a giant, gleaming operatic number, a crazy marching band trick that turned into jazz with a dizzying trumpet solo that flies out of the punchy bursts of lower end tubas (?) and bleating horns. It's just crazy tot hear this kind of a dedication and skill, the sheer number of people, all in line coming together and making this happen, not to mention this isn't exactly garage music… where are you even going to rehearse this?
The opening of the horn section all in a row, sliding and waiting for a punchy, off kilter rhythm to take over with rolling snare's and timid ride cymbal taps while the midrange brass section picks up the main melody. The rock structure is all here, but this is an entirely different animal… just to hear all these moving pieces is exciting. Reexamining the very idea of contemporary compositions and big band/jazz groups doing this real modern stuff, it's mind-boggling. I have a huge respect for the talent at work here, and it’s like stumbling into the middle of a back alley street fair in Louisiana, an underground celebration that isn’t for the general public…or center field at half time. The way they insert these little bits of funk and soul, the melody seems to gradually gets a looser. I imagine those spontaneous street bands walking by your house in the lower 9th ward (I really have no idea what I’m talking about) and people joining in this funk marching band, elevating it with soul military precision… pretty nuts.

"Gangsta" has that lower end section working opposite this squeaking upper horn section and even with this title I can’t help but hear a kind of gypsy sound like Gogol Bordello or Beruit. Even if this has a jazzier, more pronounced melody, there was never going to be any room for lyrics the way they have this instrumentation working in every crevice and sonic wavelength. It’s slightly Middle Eastern with this clarinet solo at the end here and if you're looking for it, it might have a klezmer swagger you could say, a real tough kind of attitude here. It should be like a scratchy old record, but it's new and clear, bursting at the seams, real powerful stuff that ends up loud as heck in the these grooves…confounding to all generations.

The band is currently on tour, coming to Joe's Pub on the 28th and then up through Maine...I'm jealous but glad it’s them and not me.

This one is available from Electric Cowbell.

The band says:

“Jackson” is a karşilama (9/8 rhythm) that was the result of sitting around on a couch with a little old Casio keyboard, in the tiny village of Jackson, PA, contemplating the global reach of the king of pop: Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson might be the closest thing to “world music” if you mean music that the whole world has heard. It seems impossible now to ever appeal to that many people again at the same time. But what if Michael Jackson had grown up Roma in Serbia?

“Gangsta” is a tune of unknown origin (to SSP! anyway) that was a big hit in the southern Serbian brass band scene a few years back. We first heard it when we were hanging out in Vranje with Ekrem Mamutović; he led his band through it at a rehearsal and we fell in love with it instantly. The next day we asked him to teach it to us, and he said he couldn’t – it’s their hot new tune, and he couldn’t give away the trade secret. We definitely respected that. The next day in the car, we put on the latest Boban and Marko Marković album, and there was a version of the tune on the album, attributed to Marko. With competing claims as to whose hot new tune it was, we decided it was open season and whipped out our recording of the rehearsal. Peter Stan said with wonderment, “that tune is so gangsta”, and lo it had a title.

Mucca Pazza on Electric Cowbell records

It's one thing to put out a single from the likes of Mucca Pazza, a 30 piece punk marching band out of Chicago... after all, Electric Cowbell released their full length Safety Fifth not too long ago, but then they had to go further than just a single and invited the Greenwood Rhythm Coalition and Producer/DJ Jon Kennedy to go nuts and completely put their own spin on something that was already insane in my book.

"Tube Sock Tango" the A-Side track by the Greenwood Rhythm Coalition leads off with a guiro, washboard scrapey rhythm and those talked about layers of percussion from the 30 piece, including appropriately enough, a cowbell. The melody comes out of a klezmer style, clarinet phrase... half gypsy, half polka, already combining half a dozen influences. This gives way to an organ jamming on that same tune. GRC is combining electronics, like this heavy wave synth along side the organic woodwind section of the original. The layers are dense and heavy, a phasered electric swishes in and GRC isn't weilding too heavy of a hand here to obliterate the source, just upping the tempo and adding a little of their own percussion, doubling up this rhythm and including touches of synth's, like this piece of positively bouncing keys at a hectic pace at the end here. Turning their tango into a surf electronica.

Jon Kennedy in his take of "Boss Taurus", takes an opposite approach and gets pretty technical with this heavily manipulated version. Slices of bass spliced and scotch taped back together in a completely new melody, pieced together note by note under a heavy beat. That melody is a whole lot of brass and organ, dropping out to that massive hockey rink sound in a slow grind. Heavy, clean sounding swing bass, like 16 Horsepower or Soul Coughing with bursts from that brass section. An electric solo piece is looped, the scratchiness of a sampled vinyl, dub step sound coming through even in the soundcloud version of this. Finally, "Coolashell" is dense, marching band sound that I'm pretty sure is straight from a live recording here...piled on march beats, making full use of this huge section of their band. I like the idea that they're making this cool when it clearly shouldn't be, forcing it back around to being cool again. Get it on Electric Cowbell, embracing the impossibly skilled fringes of music.

Greetings from Electric Cowbell Records. We're super excited to share some good news with you! Chicago's beloved bombastic 30-piece marching band-Mucca Pazza-gets tossed in the beat blender on this special 45RPM 7". Tracks from their latest full-length Safety Fifth on Electric Cowbell Records get the royal treatment by two of the most potent mixologists on the scene today. Brooklyn's Greenwood Rhythm Coalition (NYC Trust) puts the original Tube Sock Tango flavor into their signature blender, adding a heavy dose of tropical-inspired percussion, bass, and lo-fi keyboard charm that sits perfectly alongside the deconstructed brass. And side B's Boss Taurus gets a groove-over from the UK's Stockport-bred drummer, producer and DJ extraordinare JON KENNEDY (Tru Thoughts Recordings, UK-based Grand Central Records and U.S. based Organik Recordings). This remix was entirely unique in that it had over 20 tracks of brass! Jon Kennedy finds a hook, concentrates it and fattens the track out with a bodacious break and a propulsive bass line. No small feat when there are so many hooks to choose from. The result is a down-tempo burner that finds the horn section sipping martinis between takes in the brass band lounge. And an extra bonus at the end of side B is 32-second drum corp cadence courtesy of Mucca Pazza's esteemed K12 percussion section! And the cherry on top is the beautiful full-color artwork by grammy-nominated Kathleen Judge! Available on 45RPM 7" vinyl August 21, 2012 or from our online store NOW!

Debo Band on Electric Cowbell Records

Up today is another collaborative split from The Debo Band and Kiddid making things his own on the remix B-Side. Just saw that Debo has a double album coming out on Subpop in about a month, crazy departure for that label but good to hear these guys spreading out to new audiences and across two discs...it all started here with Electric Cowbell spreading the Debo... one single at a time.

The A-Side, "Gedawo" was recorded live in Ethiopia 2010. I love this heavy distorted sounding bass groove, super dirty, like something from Mothers Milk, without even knowing it that was an early introduction to funk. It wasn't a stretch from there to the source of Funkadelic or Parliment. It's the full use of an entire orchestra in something like this that's infectious, the feel of everyone invited to the session getting involved weather they wanted to or not follows through the the very listening to something like this. This instrumentation in a self propelling groove...this energy just taking over. Bursts of choreographed backup vocals and against Bruck Tesfaye's quivering... almost falsetto vocal. A classical element opposite this heavily wah'd guitar, a super funk combination of structured free form improvised jazz with these undeniable grooves. An intense horn section...the complete meltdown sound totally in control.

The B-Side, A remix of the track from Kiddid emphasizes the dub reggae elements, the classic counter rhythm in between the beat. He's got a heavy synth or electronic groove under heavy echo'd vocal from the first side. The almost falsetto vocal sounding extra alien when doubled and bounced around like this over the more minimal instrumentation. This bassline fuzzing out in the lower end, isolated horns make a more subtle entrance on this side, being all about that humming, floor shaking bass. An organ electronic taking the place of that guitar strum.
Nice dropout...A minor interlude of birds chirping and sample for the big drop back in, teasing out an entirely new instrumnetal section from the horns, just a slight glitch edge towards the end. It's swinging way away from the organic origins, and a halting handclap beat that I don't even remember from the other side. Chopping up new sections that isn't going so far into removing it from the source, and still ending up with something entirely new.

Sold Out from Electric Cowbell (I was slow getting to this) so check out these ditro's: Crosstalk (Chicago, IL), Carrot Top (Chicago, IL)Fat Beats (Brooklyn, NY), Revolver (San Francisco, CA), Ernie B’s (El Dorado Hills, CA).

Debo Band returns to the Electric Cowbell roster with another hit out of the park! “Gedawo” is an Ethio-funk classic by the great singer Ayalew Mesfin who recorded several hits in the 1970s. Recorded live in Ethiopia, this version features the background vocals, clapping, and traditional drumming of the group Fendika, Debo’s vibrant collaborators from Addis Ababa. A perfect vehicle for charismatic Debo-frontman Bruck Tesfaye, Gedawo is a rousing dance anthem performed by a contemporary 15-piece funk powerhouse. In stark contrast, Kiddid’s B-side “Gedubwo Mix” swaps drum kit and sousaphone for drum machine and square-wave, flipping the tune on its head into digi-dub territory. A chugging Tubby-esque take on the raucous original. Comes in medium weight 7″ brown paper sleeve with full-color vintage postage stamp sticker of the group on the sleeve.

Os Magrelos on Electric Cowbell Records

Another single on Electric Cowbell has been dying to hit the turntable. This one from Os Magrelos, which features a couple of members of Bio Ritmo and a cover of Irani Barros and Nelson Cavaquinho’s “Luz Negra” which is the A-Side track.

Not familiar with the original, this one starts out with a cool, slow beat, real funky and a swirling mysterious electronic tone in there, like a church organ for a spy, detective soundtrack. It's an old radio show theme updated with horns and funk beats...so put together, the story is writing itself. The horns get more prevalent while those Farfisa breathy organ jabs take this from being a creeping Pink Panther homage into a smooth slick cool cat '70s jam somewhere in harlem. A windy effect comes back and it's a completely deserted street again. Fantastic instrumental, this great beat driving the entire thing and subtly working in unusual elements in what should be a straight up funk track...like this delayed reverb chime melody...the pieces so seemingly separate it could be a DJ Shadow cut and paste.

The B-Side has two cuts starting with "Seja Como For" which features the band backing vocalist, Laura Ann. This side is a real shaker, an organ based salsa track. That smooth jazz slathered with muted trumpets, sort of an authentic mad men era track, when the US was sort of in love with those mysterious foreign sounds. It was hip to French stuff, south of the border stuff....forget zu zu, this captures all of that weird optimism perfectly, in a more subtle way. The congo rhtyhm and those sultry vocals from Laura...what a missed opportunity that show has with authentic bands like this around.
Next up "Canada Drive" with it's crazy drum machine beat, heavy sine wave sytnh saw blade sounds, pitch wheel siren, bossanova 2001. Kraftwerk salsa. Like those automaton displays at the Epcot center... for this alien band. Here's their soundtrack.

If you want to read a real review, go check out Notes and Bolts, this guy knows what he's talking about.

Paper sleeve, big hole, thick as a frisbee 45 from Electric Cowbell Records.
You could fill a jukebox.

Taking the classic samba by Nelson-Cavaquinho, Os Magrelos turn Luz Negra into a hypnotizing, bass heavy instrumental that samples the full spectrum of sounds from a vintage Farfisa organ. On Side B, you’ll feel the “saudade” or nostalgia, in the original bossa nova “Seja Como For” which features the classy voice of Laura Ann Singh accompanied by the mellow trombone of Tobias Whitaker (Bio Ritmo). The surprise bonus track, Canada Drive, is the solo project of leader Magrela Rose (aka Marlysse of Bio Ritmo). It’s a minute and a half of samba drum-machine madness beneath layers of lost sounds from a Juno 106. We are excited to debut the ‘samba rock’ of Os Magrelos.

Karthala 72 on Electric Cowbell Records

Got a new one from the prolific Electric Cowbell Records, from this somewhat mysterious band Karthala 72, from the look of that site and their facebook page I'd gather this isn't some kind of reissue, but a pitch perfect homage to what I imagine were some of the '70s psych and groove reworkings going on in Africa. That combination of raw funk grooves and polyrhythmic percussion is all captured here, in perfect fidelity.

A-Sides, "Dans le coeur du feu" has a haunting opening...electric free form jam seriously delayed over a completely tribal congo rhythm. Handclaps and punctuating spontaneous yelling vocal off in the distance, seemingly captured haphazardly by the mics. They didnt mean to leave that in there...or did they? There's a kind of synth laser hit in the middle of this under a sine wave bass tone grooving away, sounding a little bit modern this flashback hipster lounge... a really great instrumental. More ultra delayed yip and youl from the vocal section that they're using really like another instrument. No one is telling any kind of narrative story here just getting into the freaky groove. Somehow a modern psych sound, with a hint of danger, a sort of unsettling sci-fi edge. Here's this fictional culture that skipped a lot of the real destructive turns and evolved with nature? What am I painting some kind of psych-avatar alternate universe music scenario? No. It's just a big synth feel to this '70s rhythm, almost like the sound of that future that never really happened.

"Delores" on the B-Side, has a crazy layered rhythm made up of an insane array of instruments, I mean it's like these guys could actually be working with 2 or 3 drum machines in a real interesting way, shakers and ...forget it, I have no idea all the sounds happening here. I can pick out this slow distortied guitar and all kinds of tuned toms, the flexible heads pushed down to get that high pinging edge. It's an exercise in all drums, even a little bit blown out, just on the edge of the red. Kicks hitting real slow and that background chorus of guys yelling out of the chaos of ordered pummeling. Chimes and some kind of bass rhythm, sort of 4-track sounding in the way that you really spend time with the layers or managing to get every single person you know together at once, building this track quietly and slowy over weeks.

Download the A-Side track here via Press Junkie PR, and pick it up at the old Electric Cowbell. What do your seven inches need? More Electric Cowbell.

Christopher Walken said so.

The sound of a 1970′s psychedelic freakout only heavier than you ever heard it before! The A-side, “Dans Le Coeur Du Feu,” brings some seriously dark, driving funk meets Afrobeat. There isn’t much on the group out their on the internet. We can’t even figure out exactly where they are from but tribal rhythms and hypnotic guitar echo to a time when the raw sound was king. The B-side-Delores-mellows the attack a bit but retains the afro-noir vibe and keeps the pulsing percussion mix up front. Haunting glockenspiel and portentous guitar are balanced by a buoyant sax line that snakes its way into the song at the halfway mark. Taking influence from the traditional music of the Comoros, to Anatolian bazaar jazz to the more familiar beat of percussion led afro funk. This single is destined to become a psych-world burner. Comes in medium weight 7″ brown paper sleeve with full-color vintage postage stamp sticker of the group on the sleeve.

Cheick Hamala Diabate on Electric Cowbell Records

Got a new one from Electric Cowbell, and like all of their releases, it's about the research yo want to do as the audience. Like Moniker Records, there's always an interesting story behind each performer, each release, what leads up to this single is as important as what's on the record. That's true for this one from Cheick Hamala Diabate, who is a world renowned master of the Ngoni, which is somewhat related to the banjo. This single combines the traditional sounds and practices of Mali with absorbing the past decade of rock in the US, and combining them together.

On the A-Side, "Tagamba" is a great example of this blending of cultures...and even era's. The high resiter Ngoni, sort of reminds you of a mrimba with that similar metallic 'plink' sound. Cheick starts the track solo, in an intricate finger picking style, a rolling rhythm comes up immediately behind, full of a muted brass section, working in tandem with this rigid rhythm. For me, it's got those same Tortoise moments from their self titled album, the sections when they were also drawing together those jazz and indie influences. This is a very contemporary sounding percussion section with a heavy emphasis on the 4/4 beat, the drums not straying too far from this heavy structure. Cheick is improvising on top of this foundation, making the case for this instruments completely western abilities. Then suddenly this track goes completely indigenous-funk, with Cheick delivering his vocal in multiple distinct layers which emulate that chorus of folks who would be singing along. A literal sounding combination of these varied styles and their differences, but maybe providing some kind of blueprint for some new innovation.

The B-Side, "Sigi Diya" sounds like it starts out with an electric version of the Ngoni, building up layers of what sound like loops, another really interesting combination of traditional and contemporary. Something like The Books, it's jarring to expect to hear that in a certain way. You start to realize the preconceptions that come with this sound and how they're broken. Also after reading from EC what this track is about I start to wonder if there isn't some correlation somewhere between certain ranges of human vocal and emotion irregardless of meaning and context. There's no denying when you get to sit down with these records you're going to be asking yourself these kinds of questions. Burst of horns in a huge complex mix of rhythm that somehow keeps shifting, in what I imagine must be like in those neverending sessions for nobody but themselves, even make it on a record. The bassline, conga, xylophone...nothing sounds to be obviously working together, they may as well be captured samples, played in this precise way. It's hyptnotic, the complex drums building to overwhelming if it wasn't also working out this heavy groove at the same time. Lots of jazz like expressions that can't be planned.

Get it from Electric Cowbell :

Cheick Hamala Diabate is a West African historian, now living in Washington DC, in the Griot tradition, and a world-recognized master of the ngoni, a Malian traditional instrument. He has successfully fused the traditional rhythms and vocals of his ancestors with the more electric, American sounds he has absorbed over the past decade living in the US. Both of these tracks have Griot teaching messages and are sung in Manding (seems to be a mother language of Bambara) from Mali. For example, Sigi Diya on side B, is a message for people to listen to each other, be understanding of each other, respect each other and trust each other. We’re happy to help Cheick promote this message on 45RPM vinyl. The band on these tracks is well-oiled from holding down a weekly residency at the nightclub Bossa in Washington, DC, and the groove is thick and sure to go off on any dance floor with live humans in the house! We love re-issues of West African music by labels like Analog Africa and Soundway but it’s refreshing to have new vinyl available from a current and relevant artist such as Cheick Hamala. Comes in medium weight 7″ Brown Paper Sleeve with hand-made stamp.

No BS Brass on Electric Cowbell Records

The thing I love about Electric Cowbell is that they're wholeheartedly behind a band that names themselves the No BS Brass band and who puts, "Take on Me" on the A-Side. That's right, the Ah-ha cover.

Even then their version doesn't immediately give away where it's headed, there's a damn lot of horns blasting away, which makes sense right? But it's hard to wrap your head around the work and physical instruments in this recording space, I would guess there's at least 8 guys blasting away, mostly in a lower key and then taking over that recognizable lyric with a low burping of tuba? I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to mic all these instruments at once. The range of multiple horns taking on bassline parts, harmonizing the verse, overlapping 'take me on / take on me', building that chorus and synth with marching band precision. It's all done in a real loose, live style, beyond just the joke of reinventing this song, you can hear as much as they care about the arrangement. The breakdown piece of the original ends in the band stepping up to their mics and singing the ba da ba bop bop finish....it's a fun, nostalgic song to reference and twist it in a nearly classical way....why not commit this to vinyl?

The B-Side then , "Dr. Willy" (written by Reggie Pace) utilizes those beefy low end bleats of the trombone and tuba section, creating an almost weird kind of experimental shuffle, nearly jazz, but always focused on the cyclic rhythm. A slow, rim shot and muted high hat, makes this feel like a spy theme. Slowly a dead, bottom register note from a single tuba rumbles this low end, it's out of nowhere and and rivals any low rider brown note. An alien note, so awesomely out of place it needs to be played back to really take it in and dial up the lower EQ to test those speakers. It makes me smile every time. I think a lot more kids would take up the tuba if they realized this kind of sound was possible. It would have made band a lot better.
The trumpet/trombone section gets a chance to break out of this structured bassline and groove out, working through all kinds of manic scales. I'm still waiting for that mammoth chasm of a note to come on back through.
Both sides are just serious lung power with a sense of humor, which ought to get No BS Brass some attention in the right ways.

Get this one from Electric Cowbell, still exploding turntable needles after all these years:

No BS! Brass Band is a powerful brass band that embraces the spirit of New Orleans into its original East Coast modern funk. Their danceable arrangements are outstandingly well thought-out and organized, drawing inspiration from funk, jazz, klezmer, calypso, and Led Zeppelin. On Side-A the boys take on a cover of the classic 80′s hit by A-Ha “Take on Me” and the results are a rousing a second line without a parading permit. “Dr. Wily” on on the flip side is an original penned by lead trombonist Reggie Pace-currently on tour with Bon Iver. With a flight-of-the-bumblebee urgency this tune simply shreds and hits you in the face like a brass knuckle brass band sandwich. Comes with cover art and heavy gauge crystal-clear vinyl sleeve.

Los Ribereños on Electric Cowbell Records

Electric Cowbell is insanely passionate and prolific in putting out way left of center music from all genre's, the most recently to pass across my turntable have been of the salsa-funk world music variety, but that's not even fair. If there's something really interesting I would have never heard of, EC is already there providing this kind of entry point to entire new worlds. Case in point is this single from Los Riberenos, a Peruvian band working in the Chicha genre. This is humbling stuff, as much you'd like to think you have somewhat of a handle on things happening in contemporary music, when something like this is happening out there, it's a sign of just how pigeonholed your own taste can get. Mix it up once in a while, it doesn't have to be a music lesson, but do you need another one-sided experimental noise single? I'm just saying be well rounded...and I'm truly thankful for these sounds.
So the A-Side, "Silbando" features some major crooning from leader John Beny, over a rolling slow conga fill opening, then that washboard scratch sound drives this one home. As soon as it picks up, a great twangy, sort of surf guitar sound plays the lead melody, improvising all over the rhythm in between John's vocals. Nice background kids singing backup. The mix of percussion is impressive, building through various slightly varied tempo's with triangles, kettle drums...an entire village of metal banging. I think that can't even be helped, performed live, you'd be compelled to bang on something. It's a brief one, they hardly get into another chorus which fades out, but there's still the B-Side which is a remix of the track by Brooklyn's Greenwood Rhythm Coalition, and that's another thing Electric Cowbell does that no one else I know of is doing, highlighting the interpretations and variations of these sounds by Brooklyn artists. Here they've kept the original largely intact, with the addition of a groove bassline, which until now, you didn't realize was missing. There's even more variation on the percussion, layers of more eclectic instrumentation with a dub slant at times, big time delay and echoing unrecognizable pieces of the original. The guitar is given even more room to shine when the whole thing comes to a stop. This one is housed in a pavement style collage sleeve on black vinyl.

So what do I think of the Electric Cowbell section of the seven inch shelves? It's making me a better person. Check out the tracks and pick this one up from Electric Cowbell Records.

Very excited about this one! Barbes Records has exclusively licensed Electric Cowbell Records a song from the new Roots of Chicha ll complilation. Chicha is essentially a sort of psychedelic cumbia-based music from the Amazon basin in Peru. Incessant twangy surf guitar playing montunos alongside propulsive, percolating percussion is the modus operandi of a chicha group. On side A we have the hauntingly beautiful track by Los Ribereños "Silbando" that gets a tasty remix on the B-side by Brooklyn's Greenwood Rhythm Coalition for NYC Trust. Los Ribereños, led by John Beny, is another Peruvian 60s band which specialized in a mostly Cuban repertoire but gave it what we can, in retrospect, call a chicha twist. A the time of this recording, chicha was getting a little more syncretic, with an occasional Andean flavor, but guaracha (a mid-20th century Cuban style of music) remained its strongest element....and this chicha-infused guaracha 45 is destined to be a world-class psych burner classic!

The Sway Machinery featuring Khaira Arby on Electric Cowbell/Jdub/Fatbeats Records

Electric Cowbell is at it again with another classy as hell release, this one from The Sway Machinery who include an incredible pedigree of musicians a truly esoteric and talented bunch of influences, styles, and resumes. The band majored in cantorial music but seems to combine that centuries old tradition with modern rock and jazz. Recently they traveled to Mali (of course) and ended up recording with various musicians there including Khaira Arby who says:

When Sway Machinery arrived, they came to me and said, “Khaira, we're going to play something and we want you to join in.” When they started playing at the festival, and everyone was there, I thought, “What am I going to sing what this music?" But when I sang, everyone was... "Wow!” So then they came to see me in Bamako and they invited me to come and record on their album. Everything went well. I'm not sure if you've heard their album. It's really good. One could say that they are musicians of the north now.

The A-Side "Gawad Teriamou" (can't seem to translate that via google) is, well how am I going to describe this...to me Khaira vocally has some what I think of as Arabic sounding, the quick shifts in an entirely new scale, almost a vibrato operatic waver, and I can pick out the repeated title of the track. The scale rises and at points she's really belting this out, her vocal just near cracking and based on her quote of the experience I'd like to think this was just a jam that happened out of a few scratch track takes. So here's this jewish traditional structure of a track with an african, muslim vocal essentially? I'm getting into some dangerous territory probably if I'm wrong, I'll admit I'm in deep waters here, but that's a noble idea.
Musicially, you have that almost reggae muted strum, with long blasts from the horn section. I love the way Khaira is just resting her right hand on that giant saxophone. That must be easy to check on the plane.

The B-Side, "Youba" kicks in with a distinct break beat and gets a lot dirtier and funkier, that bass sax hitting incredibly rumbling low bass notes against a great high bleeting of trumpet, vinyl has to be the way to reproduce this range of sound. Khaira is singing all over her amazing range, following the bass melody for a moment and branching off into her distinct intonation. A funky as hell blues gritty guitar solo slowly works it's way into the mix, somehow sounding completely at home in the middle of this horn call and response. I have no idea of the content of these lyrics, but they're coming across like some kind of blues funk hybrid, which can transcend the cultural barrier.

I think someone told me once the whole point of Jim Jarmusch's films were in a way to promote the very idea of multiculturalism and the blurring of cultural experience. The cross pollination of ideas and in this case, sounds. I think that's what The Sway Machinery, and Electric Cowbell or JDub or Fatbeats are essentially doing as well. Exploring this type or truly fringe music that doesn't seem to directly have a place in history yet. Go forth audio pioneers. I will study the strange sounds on your single and one day understand their influence.
Get this one from Electric Cowbell Records.

For those sad souls out there who don't have access to a turntable, but still read this blog, or feel they are missing a few key Electric Cowbell releases that are out of print, EC has conveniently released a huge selection of their 7inch releases on the dead "CD" format. Have you heard of these things?
Go check out samples of all the Electric Cowbells music here and if you want to listen to them, say, in your car...well you're in luck.
Pick up a copy of 101 things to do in bongolia. for that Compact Disc player.

Spangish Fly on Electric Cowbell Records

Spangish Fly sent me a copy of this single that had been previously been out of stock at Electric Cowbell, but is sinceback up for purchase. Spanglish Fly brings back memories of living on 42nd Street and seeing those weird pills and herbal supplements for sale at every bodega....some kind of weird viagra? Maybe. Is this the audio equivalent? I'm positive this will have a better chance than those packets of who knows what.
Sexy.
Let's find out.

The A-Side, "Think (Pensamiento)" has Erica Ramos on breathy emotional vocal duty on this one, basically reminding the audience forget about your troubles, remember the good times and dance. It's purely celebratory music, and again I'm way out of my element here in general. I've never heard of 90% of the influences they list on their myspace. Still, it's making me want to relisten to that Buena Vista Social Club Soundtrack, that's probably the last time I ventured into latin funk territory like this. That will probably make these guys cringe, but you gotta start somewhere.
The horn section really drives the melody of this, with a huge array of percussion and recognizable piano (?) progressions providing that rhythm funk foundation. The fact this is essentially a cover of the 5 royales is insane. Like the James Brown reinterpretation it's completely changed, there isn't an immediately recognizable piece of the original. More than just latin funkifying the original, like those novelty lounge tracks, this sounds to me like a classic reinterpretation. You're a fan of the sentiment, and this is more of a homage through a Spanglish filter.
It's an amazingly expertly engineered mix, everything is perfectly captured.... that bass groove must be heard on vinyl. The smack of every conga, that bleating trumpet, really impressive recording.

The B-Side, "Let My People Bugalù" begins with a slow groove bassline and building rhythm section. I'm completely impressed by this kind of massive orchestral instrumentation. Little punctuated sections at the end of a verse part, mostly instrumental. Nice smooth trumpet solo with a guiro washboard style rhythm throughout.
The title lyric just comes in during a breakdown section at the end, a group harmony...the song pauses for this statement.

It's one thing to listen to this sound on 7inch vinyl, but to experience a band like this live, whole different story. This 7inch captures a crystal clear separated clean mix of this funk, but can I imagine this outside?...that would be an entirely different uncaged animal. They should work out some kind of dancefloor.

From Electric Cowbell Records who will always remind me of the insane diversity of music out there, and if you think you're some kind of expert about music in general...you're an idiot.

For their Electric Cowbell debut, Spanglish Fly gives the Latin soul treatment to Think! Spanglish Fly takes a tune that was an r&b hit for the 5 Royales in 1957, that is better known as James Brown's 1960 proto-funk smash. and radically re-arranges it to create "Think (Pensamiento)" a sizzling Latin dance floor burner--just like the 1960s boogaloo groups might have covered it.

Amazing Ghost on Electric Cowbell Records

This single came in with a batch from Electric Cowbell, purveyors of all the uncategorizable music on the outskirts....is there a jazz/funk underground? Of course. EC is here to document it...I mean honestly before 6 months ago I couldn't have named a single local band in these styles and the whole time there was a homegrown industry with Electric Cowbell at the center. Kind of like Helvete in Norway, just a different jam.
Amazing Ghost is the latest project from New Haven native Eddie Pren, formerly of Pencilgrass and if there's one thing you can consistently bet on, this is going to be more of the same kind of genre-bending dance-electronic soul that sounds like was going on in his previous project.

The A-Side cuts loose with 'I gettupa', an uber produced, layered, dance track with Eddie's laid back straight ahead vocal style, a stark contrast to the handclap dense, swirling pop synth percussion instrumentation. It's a deadpan style vocal repeating 'When I fall down, I gettupa', like any successful dance track it proves you can repeat almost anything over a catchy beat and get away with it. The style is a weird, sincere homage to rock-pop, like some kind of B-52's/Les Savy Fav hybrid. I'm even thinking of Why?, the borderline shimmery electro-pop excited to show you it's homemade hand. Completely orchestral in arrangement, it takes crazy talent to wrangle the whole thing into this rainbow, unicorn highway crime scene.
There's even a 'CD finished burning' ding in there somewhere because I half looked around for a second...who the hell is burning a CD?

The B-Side 'Tiny little raindrops', like the Flaming Lips they have the skill and experimental drive to pull off passionately singing about tiny raindrops and snowflakes over a basic synth melody. The horns come in to give it that dose of smooth soul just like sexy Sax man
busting out Careless Whisper in a mall food court, Amazing Ghost is playing with conventions, keeping it lighthearted in everything but delivery.
Check out a digital 5 song EP on their bandcamp page or press play on the video for a visual taste of their special brand of insanity. Very close to something on Tim & Eric's awesome show. Flying carpets, pegasi, lazers, like the tracks: throw it in the pot, make it catchy deliberately dance-y and the rest will take care of itself.

amazing ghost's 'i getuppa' from Amazing Ghost on Vimeo.

Get it from Electric Cowbell who says:

Amazing Ghost from the fertile music scene of Richmond, Virginia includes members of Bio Ritmo, Fight the Big Bull (David Karsten) and The Great White Jenkins which is a strong testament to their impressive musical backgrounds. They sound like an assimilation of Gary Numan/Ultravox/Flying Lizard's swirling keyboard embellishments, "nothing but a party y'all" late70's/early 80's hip hop sensibilities, and 21st century lido shuffling. They are downright impossible to resist--as evidenced by their catchy-as-fuck debut 45-RPM single on Electric Cowbell Records. On the A-side, "I Gettupa", vocalist/bassist/bandleader Eddie Prendergast employs the everyman spoken/sung dynamics of punk poet John Cooper Clarke, channeling "Million Dollar Legs" by the Outlaw Four as keyboardists Bob Miller and Toby Whitaker prolong the unbridled party anthem with looping, non-linear sonic support. "Tiny Raindroz" ventures into the usually insipid realm of 1980's balladry and ever-so-subtly turns John Hughes's cinematic heartstring pulling into a slightly funky, tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek homage to tender moments. As with virtually everything they do, these tunes haunt you long after the record has ended.

Debo Band and Kiddid on Electric Cowbell Records

Another genre and mind expanding single from Electric Cowbell, who are truly documenting pretty much whatever they feel worthwhile. Like Feeding Tube Records, or Harding Street Assembly Lab, these are goldmines of underground music that would never make it to vinyl, let alone any form of release whatsoever.

I have mixed feelings about Henry Rollins, or I thought I did, but his piece in the LA Weekly, 'Hungry for New Music', about turning 50 and staying open minded to new music couldn't have been more appropriate for sitting down with this single. Really that's the same kind of spirit I wanted to approach this blog with from day 1.
There's too much great music out there without even looking for it, and this format is inherently usually connected to the very bands creating it...forget about the collectible aspect, the vinyl arguments, and the tangibility of the artifact for a second...it's always been about that search for new music, and being open to stuff exactly like this. The most far reaching challenging sounds have always come from 7 inches, and always will.

This single from Electric Cowbell is no exception. Every single release of theirs is a jumping off point to a completely new area of music I would have otherwise never have come across but knowing it's being expertly curated by Jim Thomson I know these are all going to be worth looking into.

The A-Side 'Adderech Arada' from Debo band was recorded live in Ethiopia, 2009. The first thing I'm into is this tuba sounding bassline. Then the heavily distinct vibrato vocals, firmly planting this in that middle eastern part of the world. A chorus of background ladies repeat his melodies back at him in what could easily be a bouncy theme song on a bollywood soundtrack. The snake charming clarinet or oboe and brass sound There's even a snake charmer oboe/clarinet section with big kettle drums...it's an impressive entire orchestra coming together where each section has it's own unique foreign timings and phrasings. I'll use this as another great jumping off point to dive into that foreign crate next time especially if I see Ethiopia credited on the label.

The B-Side remix by Keddid takes the timeless sound of the Boston based band and jams it definitively into the 21st century. It starts with a thin version of the A-Side played through an old AM radio until the beat takes over and the whole thing comes into focus. Kiddid approaches the vocals off the original composition as sound fragments to be scratched and repeated over the breakbeat while the low tuba sound bassline of the original has been replaced by electronics.
This contemporary interpretation would be what parts of modern Ethiopia or India could sound like in clubs there. They're going for that idea when you combine those genres and musicians that wouldn't know about or work with each other and that;'s what Electric Cowbell is doing...exposing an audience to things they definitely wouldn't come across usually any other way.

Electric Cowbell still has copies of this one, but I've noticed they are out of stock on a few titles, so don't wait around.

"Adderech Arada" is a beloved traditional Ethiopian song about a woman who, after breaking out of her lawful marriage, falls into sin by traveling to Arada, or Addis Ababa's red-light district. and falling into sin. Recorded live in Ethiopia in May 2009, Debo Band's version of Adderech Arada is inspired by the Haile Selassie I Theater Orchestra's recording arranged and conducted by Nerses Nalbandian. And on the flipside, Kiddid's haunting remix deconstructs Debo Band's performance with elements of dub, ambient electronica, and experimental hip-hop.

Bio Ritmo on Electric Cowbell Records

Oh, Electric Cowbell Records, how do you know exactly what insane gaps in my musical experience to fill?

This single from Bio Ritmo is such another time and place, far, far away from this cold, deep winter in NY. It's Cuban, South American, Spanish...Buena Vista Social Club style...not north eastern snowdrifts of unplowed streets.
But this couldn't be on another label either, it's right in line with their borderline experimental orchestral leanings and what makes Electric Cowbell as punk as anyone who completely follows their own idiosyncratic direction.

I have no reference for when this A-Side, La Muralla could have been recorded, except for the synth breakdowns towards the end of the track which are so inorganic they have to be contemporary. The whole time they manage both this conga energy and smooth relaxed vibe, probably thanks to that warm classic organ, that's right out of the 70's leopard print lounge mix. But then again...I can't place half the percussion instruments...multiple cowbells maybe? Some kind of washboard? A gourd-shaker thing? What's that crazy snare sound? It's almost a tight soprano snare, almost kettle drum sound. Always leaving room for each instrument to cooly improvise, which goes without saying is the best on vinyl, like that stack of jazz records. I can only imagine the engineering nightmare of actually capturing this for wax, the number of instruments, the insanely varying volumes...and I'm sure they would want to perform this live, together. It couldn't possibly have this energy if they were tracked separately. It's so cleanly separated, it's almost novle at this point not to hear any noise from the recording process or the record surface. Has Times New Viking put Dolby out of business yet?

I'd love to know the story behind this band, the wikipedia Bio Ritmo entry is pretty thin, but at least I know they're nearing 20 years together. How the hell this emerged out of the Virginia college scene, I'll never understand...but then again who's still relevant... Bio Ritmo, or the Dave Matthews Band? A single can expose you to a tiny, manageable piece of history like this and then leave you wanting the backstory.

The B-Side, "Dina's Mambo" is coming from a different place than the A-Side...it's a dense mass of percussion and really screaming horn section going baritone and then frantically blasting back into the main melody. I'm definitely partial to this bassline right off the bat and far east sounding melody that all of a sudden takes a Latin turn. I really don't think it's that far removed from Tortoise at any point...they must have roots have to go at least Bio Ritmo deep, but again, I'm not claiming to know any more than the average jerk when it comes to this genre. They deserve (and it must exist) a blog devoted to this contemporary rexamination of the people working in this genre.... this single could really kick things off.
It's also working in that soundtrack kind of way...sort of wild western, electric guitar with a little echo...an Ennio Morricone scene. There's even a brief moment with a slightly off keyboard...no, let's call it loose... and it's just what this otherwise tight, impenetrable arrangement needs. Reminding you that humans did indeed create this in a massive collaborative effort and not an animatronic array at the small world ride at Disney.

Electric Cowbell has definitely carved out a very specific niche for itself and since I don't... at least I know they know what they're doing. Go get it.

Quickly approaching their 20 year anniversary, Bio Ritmo unveil their latest offering and debut release for Electric Cowbell. Bio Ritmo is a one of a kind phenomenon in today's hard-bitten indie salsa world - a band with both a healthy adventurous streak and a solid underpinning of authentic sabor criollo. In a rather hostile environment that makes getting gigs difficult and playing this type of music more a labor of love and endeavor of pure artistic expression than a simply commercial endeavor, Bio Ritmo continue to delight and amaze with both their talent and longevity, consistently pushing the envelope, tearing down walls between categories and defying pigeonholes. The A-side Dina's Mambo is a slab of tropical funk that showcases the band's playful instrumental side but also reveals a muscular cinematic swagger. Consequently there is a pleasingly Persian flavor to the proceedings (in keeping with the band's previous leanings towards minor-key tunings), as well as tasty hints of progressive Afro-Cuban funk of the 70s by the likes of Los Van Van and Chucho Valdes' Irakere. The B-Side, La Muralla, is a seemingly straight up salsa dance track with a dark underpinning that makes for goose-pimple dancing at the same time.

Electric Cowbell has an amazing live showcase at the Tribeca 92nd St Y this Saturday:

Entour Entertainment and Wax Poetics present an Electric Cowbell Records showcase with Bio Ritmo, CSC Funk Band, Cheick Hamala Diabate, Debo Band, Slavic Soul Party and DJ E's E.

Talibam! Cosmoplitude on Electric Cowbell/ESP-Disk Records

Talibam! is a hell of a name, and that sleeve isn't giving anything away except it's obviously a two man project with Kevin Shea and Matt Mottel. I sort of thought this was going to be a minimal Avant Garde classical style single...maybe it's the political moniker...or those two serious dudes standing back to back...there's nothing to let you in on this free form stylized, mashup-collage barely contained on the two sides.
The A-Side "Crusin' the Cookie Isle"...is impossible to describe what sounds are being created. You have to get into the thought behind these seriously disjointed genre's to make any kind of sense of it. Everything feels mechanical, like 14 sound collages running at once. A little bit cold. Or a winter carnival, let's say. The it gets hip hop. TV samples and news reports over NYC radio station surfing. The only thing I can even semi-relate this to is the free form anti-style of Zappa or Captain Beefheart. The key is not ever knowing what to expect.

The title, "Cruising the cookie isle" actually makes perfect sense. Ask them to go get their favorite, they refuse to decide...let's face it, they're all delicious. You're splitting hairs...take all the bags of cookies, unwrap them and make a pile in the cart...crush them into a giant cookie of a track.

The B-Side "Cosmic Attitude" also subscribes to changing the rhythm every measure in some sort of masochistic test of anti-repetition. In addition to playing every pad on the drum machine for the entire track by hand.
If Girl Talk actually wrote some music of his own it might possibly sound like this...well, he would want it to anyway. But it has to keep this touch of bizarre, and it should keep it as loose as Talibam!. The schizophrenic feeling this could go in any direction any given second. It's proof of agility...old school '80s house, Devo synth to falsetto rap with porno samples.
I can imagine what the rehearsal space looks like...an episode of hoarders.
It's an hours worth of WFMU's eclectic programming distilled down into a 3 minute 7" which in this case can be a great thing, it's as skilled and crafted to the second as any math prog rock monster... it's an overwhelming, messy side. But every Diner/24 restaurant culture has it's version of french fries with everything...Canadians call it Poutine, diners in Jersey call it Disco Fries, but basically the concept is the same...if all of those ingredients are good separate then it's going to be even better going down all at once.

Take this Billy Joel clip for example:



Wasn't that better?

Get this one from Electric Cowbell or ESP-Disc:

COSMOPLITUDE is a sexy, ultra-limited-edition 45rpm 7" single co-released by ESP Disk' and Electric Cowbell Records. This historic album not only marks Talibam's first-ever single and 20th record, but also ESP's first single in their legendary 40+ years as a vanguard label. Side A's 'Cruisin the Cooke Isle' and side B's 'Cosmic Attidude' are ready for Dj spins on Milano fashion runways, in Brooklyn punk basements, or at hot tub parties from Vegas to Tibet... Ka-ching + Ohm = KA-BONE! Cosmoplitude is a transcendent, compassionate cosmic attitude emanating from and permeating through everything -- space/places/animals/stimuli/desires/gut feelings. If you can catch on to the cosmop, the obstacle course of notated expectations, shifting brightness and energy standards, daily costume changes, uber-media-mind-chip commentary, and cultural/political flux will all suddenly transform into an inspired/extinguished altered state of disjointed iconic impressions giving birth to positive urban countenance and lavish peace. Talibam' Cosmoplitude will improve your own personal cosmoplitude, GUARANTEED.

Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Corrugators on Electric Cowbell Records

I think this single from Greg Ginn, for me anyway, gets back to the idea about music being universal. It's not about forming a popular band, coming up with a groundbreaking new sound and selling millions.... or else forget it. It starts to feel like music doesn't belong to you, it's not something just anyone can do.
The internet has had a hand in dispelling this myth, since every possible form and level of talent is out there to check out. What's terrible to me might be the greatest thing someone has ever heard. But even more than that, the change in online social media is it encourages people to add their own music content, that music isn't just for cool people or a talented minority, it's a necessity.

I'm only thinking about the current state of things because I can't imagine the musical landscape when Greg and friends were attempting to just do whatever they wanted irregardless of an kind of scene. There was never a master plan, it was absolutely all about the music in it's purest form.
Music, all of art separates us from everything else on the planet, creating something that doesn't have an obvious, immediate evolutionary benefit. The first people here felt some kind of need to express themselves through sound, so that inherent idea is embedded in us somewhere.
It doesn't make sense to count yourself out of fulfilling that because you think you aren't capable of creating. It's not just for geniuses. I guess Karaoke and Rock Band are sort of filling that need for some people, even if it somewhat removed, but we could all take a lesson from Greg and pursue these forms of expression without worrying if it's good enough to hang in the Met. He happens to be that good, but I think the subtext of this single is just of simple self expression, take it or leave it.

On both of these side Greg is playing Guitar, Bass and Organ. It has a laid back vibe of playing through all kinds of takes, not punching anything in, or cutting and pasting…it just patiently waits for the good one. The A-Side, "Freddie" is a classic stoner jam meets the post-compositions of Tortoise. A couple of simple electric melodies weaving in and out of each other like one of those Minutemen interludes. Somehow they found a great groove and didn't overanalyze. June of '44 could find those pitch perfect combinations of institutional/classical underpinnings and indie. That structured kind of improv for Greg and the Corrugators.

The B-Side, "Tea" has that classic rhodes organ sound, the recording is so clear you can hear the creaking of a bench and air rushing out of the pipes. Electric Cowbell describes it as a free jazz haiku, and I like that. You end up anticipating some kind of beginning and instead deal with this brief rising and falling of tempo and instrumentation. The electric gains momentum and dies out just as quickly to make way for something else.
The last sound you hear is a screeching almost like a train coming to a stop.

It's a few moments of chaotic uncertainty in the directionless west.

Great rorschach wraparound sleeve art by Maya Hayuk. Handwritten inner labels by Electric Cowbell who, like Greg, are releasing whatever they hell they want to.

Go check out the tracks and order the 7" on Electric Cowbell.

Electric Cowbell Records is thrilled to release Greg Ginn's first 7" since his years with the seminal American punk rock group Black Flag. Also this single is his first non-SST release after the passing of many moons. A beautiful little cinematic-soundtrack-like gem, Freddie delivers some twang, and what sounds like a sitar, giving this instrumental a Middle-East-Texas vibe. It’s what the Japancakes would sound like if they saw Dallas and kept driving. Slightly sweet, reflective melancholy from a true road warrior of the Oregon Trail of DIY.creditsreleased 01 July 2010
Greg Ginn &
The Taylor Texas Corrugators

Greg Ginn on gtr, bass, and organ
sound, Gary Piazza on gtr, and Sean
Hutchinson on drums

cover art by Maya Hayuk
mayahayuk.com
hi@mayahayuk.com

Superhuman Happiness / CSC Funk band split on Electric Cowbell

Here's another genre expanding split from a local label, Electric Cowbell Records, this time it's a split between the CSC Funk band and Superhuman Happiness.
Superhuman appropriately kicks off the A-Side with "Human Happiness". Of course these guys are a perfect match with CSC, only Superhuman immediately shifts expectations with an old school casio demo beat leading off the funk. I'm sure that's a first for funk and the 7" single. A bassline groove builds over the beautifully captured casio and horns launch into a the main melody theme. The entire track they're playing with various textures while the casio plods on: fuzzed out experimental guitar distortion and wood block fills. I can't tell if that horn section melody from Stuart Bogie keeps building with layers of harmony's underneath, or it's just by this point the funk has completely taken over. Most of all I like their attitude, they've really played everything, across the spectrum of experimental, minimalist, indie, but they just appreciated going back to this sound and applying those aesthetics to a big band funk. The label and these bands, if it wasn't enough already this is coming out on 7", they're really in it for the love of performing this music, and I have to see this in person.

The B-Side "A Troll's Soiree", continues the groovy horn blasting based funk, the main groove giving way to everyone's individual solo parts weaving throughout. Oboe solo, anyone? Amazingly talented, this super clean sound could have originated 30 years ago...it just highlights the major gaps missing from my music experience.
I get nostalgic for getting together and just playing music without all kinds of expectations, if nothing else I'm glad home recording maybe brought back that idea of creating music being a necessity and not just for the talented...even if it's a solo experience, but these guys have an amazing pedigree and decided to really authentically bring the funk. Damn.

You know most labels seem to document a particular part of the country by default, there's a few bands around, they have the same sensibilities and play together and get the attention of the micro-label, but Electric Cowbell seem to be going one step further and focus on documenting a particular genre within an area. The Captured Tracks for jazz and funk if you will.
They are making me a believer in the who cares about a scene, and it's exactly why I started talking about singles in the first place to randomly come across bands like this. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting all funked up in the morning.
Get this one from Electric Cowbell Records.

Superhuman Happiness is the musical love of Stuart Bogie's life (tenor sax player of Antibalas and all-around awesome dude.) Using layered horns and funky guitar and bass lines, electronic beets and blurps, Human Happiness will make you shake your Superhuman ass happily. This track is sounding like a cross between funkish afro-beat-tinged beats with some Zappa's Yellow Shark mixed in for good street measure.

CSC brings the horns, the rhythm and the swagger like it's 1972. This track, from the band's forthcoming 7" split with Superhuman Happiness, grooves with an easy gait as tight brass takes center stage. Clocking in at just a little over the 3-minute mark, this funky instrumental could easily be the theme song of a new Brooklyn-based cop show. Close your eyes and let CSC take you undercover with a new breed of cop show funk!