Abstract Index Playlist - December 30/09

My favourite album of last year, and possibly my most frequently played disc, was On Ka'a Davis' "Seeds Of Djuke".

I'll point you to the interview/review I did for Exclaim back in May to run down what I enjoyed most about the album - basically, this was one of the greatest ever fulfillments of the promise of Ornette Coleman's harmolodic concept.

After compiling a million and one best of lists to close out last year, I'm pleased to discover that this album, though far out, isn't in a universe of its own. The end of the first decade of the new millenium produced a bumper crop of profoundly experimental music from Black America.

Years ago, fearless trombonist Tom Walsh told me "Hip-hop music and samplers came along and most of that music has more than one tonal area at the same time. If you analyse it, it's basically harmolodic — it's new ways of finding harmony." Some of my favourite albums from 2009 bore this out: Shafiq Husayn, Ras G, Georgia Anne Muldrow and others all went into deep space to find their funk with varying degrees of coherence. I've always loved funk that pushes and pulls at regular rhythms but I think we are at a new peak (or a serious upswing) in witnessing some tremendously creative artists from different musical backgrounds who trade in the reconfiguration of rhythm, harmony, melody and electronics.

Now I've got to get a hold of On Ka'a Davis' other disc from last year: "Djoukoujou", on John Zorn's always excellent Tzadik label.

Podcast

uheskoos - collage (wool)
kad ley wey - tato feat nahid akhtar (finders keepers)
mon du don - johnny guitar (sublime frequencies)
ha fang khang kan - teun jai boon prakasa (sublime frequencies)
jet beguine - les loups noirs de haiti (soundway)
la escoba - alfredo y su salsa montanero (soundway)
ahouli vop yelli - orchestre poly rytmo de contonou (analog africa)
pagadeja - tamale (soundway)
fancy dancer - wicked witch (em)
elsa - sonido martines feat fefe (no label)
the birds - telefon tel aviv (bpitch control)
bitrate sensors - filastine (jarring effects)
combat rhythm - two fingers (paper bag)
tarantula - zomby (hyperdub)
one - moritz von oswald trio (honest jons)
bebey - gang gang dance rmx by matt shadetek (gold dust/k7)
helicopter (radio mix) - edalam feat dj lauralee (no label)
na na not me - on ka'a davis (livewired)
you liked me five minutes ago - fire (rune gramofon)
potential things - canaille (standard form)
he looks just like her – st. dirt elementary school (barnyard)
the gaze - bell orchestre (arts & crafts)
pajdusko - storsveit nix noltes (fat cat)
can't stop now - major lazer feat. mr. vegas (downtown)
gimme gimme - bonjay (no label)
sala malpapitando - caballo & the mothafu kings (no lable)
tired of the war - vibronics & macka b (interchill)
rope on in - cornell campbell (joe gibbs/vp)
get on up - babylon system (no label)
red moon - the dynamites/king tubby (pressure sounds)
do good - delroy wilson (pressure sounds)
10 ft. ganja plant & weed - 10 ft. ganja plant (ROIR)