Abstract Index playlist - Jun 21/06

I give it two thumbs up, too. This is the album cover of the year so far; it's also one of my biggest musical obsessions of June, heading into July. Everyone I've played this to has been absolutely knocked out. The most interesting occurence was when DJ Sipreano and Jay Douglas (compiler and subject of the forthcoming compilation Jamaica to Toronto) walking into the on-air booth at CIUT and Douglas exclaiming "This guy's from Turkey??" in disbelief that these funky, funky sounds could be so familiar and so far-removed from the American musical inspirations which influenced his own work. Reason #5948 why I love CIUT...

Edip Akbayram possessed a stunning wardrobe and his own thang in the early 70s. He followed up the revolutionary Anadolu pop music of the 60s with his wildly successful fusion of hard rock, funk, prog, psych with more identifiably Turkish instrumentation and time signatures. Above all, his vocals recall the intensity of Jim Morrison or Ozzy Osbourne - never rising to a scream but always full of no-bullshit conviction. Disc 2 just won't stay out of my discman (yes, I still use it constantly and don't own any portable MP3 devices). It's Funkadelic goes east - if Maggot Brain and Standing On The Verge are your preference, rather than post-One Nation Under A Groove. This is essential listening for anyone with a fondness for Q107's Psychedelic Sunday (and who in Toronto doesn't? C'mon, admit it...). Buy it.

political blues - world saxophone quartet (justin time)
sabor - quantic (ubiquity)
music plans - senor coconut (essay)
piccadillo - eddie palmieri/cal tjader (verve)
papa y - ultramagnus
laare yoo - baaba maal (palm)
mehmet emmi - edip akbayram (shadoks)
loka dances - tasa (tasamusic)
gori - catherine potter (shadaj)
helicopter de cristal - lucky dragons (states rights)
octette #1 - bill dixon (soul note)
arafura - biosphere (touch)
sorry bamba - porry (luaka bop)
lambs bread - tommy mccook (blood and fire)
blaze a fire - dubmatix (www.dubmatix.com)
haunting ground - bim sherman (on-u sound)
the soundless hum of prayer - philosophy major (wordsound)
pluk a dub - amsterdam klezmer band (essay)