Abstract Index Live Recordings 2007-11

At long last I've compiled some live recordings from Abstract Index related performances over the past few years. It features great performances by Jesse 'Dubmatix' King, GuShee, MiMo, Odradek, Kyle Brenders/Scott Thompson/Susanna Hood, Daniel Nebiat, Alaniaris and an unreleased jam from Huelepega Sound System. 

The only way to get one is to become a member of CIUT ($25 donation) during the imminent Fall Fundrasing drive, preferably before my show on Thursday the 20th. Pledge at the CIUT website now & make sure to tell 'em The Abstract Index sent you.

Abstract Index Playlist - April 21/10

It's not the greatest band name, but it's accurate.

I was trying to describe this record to someone and talked about the hooky, melodic, heavily filtered synth workouts, the sometimes robotic, sometimes swinging beats and terse vocals. She responded "So they could be from anywhere, right?" Which was exactly the point. They could be just a band from Toronto, or London, or even Kenya.

Just A Band is worldly, but coming from a different place in the world, and theirs is a well-curated survey of many contemporary trends and sounds in hipster dance music. There are several obvious questions: do I like this particular collage because it's African, whereas I might not give it a second thought if it were some buzz band from Brooklyn? By the same token, do I, or other listeners, expect something more African or specifically Kenyan out of this music? To what extent is a band like this a new phenomenon?

Though there are plenty of historical examples of transglobal African sounds produced by Africans and non-Africans alike, there are surely more examples than ever these days. The local origins of this band aren't downplayed or watered down, they're updated and placed on equal footing with all the other international musical and technological influences; there's no subordination or fetishization of geographically based stereotypes. Probably the clincher for me in this case are the vocals, which sound like a seriously spliffed-out Tone Loc wrung out through an autotuned vocoder. The declamatory singing and spoken word style combined with the melodic sweetness is quite appealing.

This album represents yet another round in the continuing debate over "what do North Americans expect from African music?" We should know by now that contemporary African sounds are not just furious drums, chanting and nine-minute dance til you drop workouts; but manifestations of a continuous flow of music from and back to Africa as channeled by myriad individual, local and national circumstances. Even so, Just A Band anticipates and leads such conversations rather than simply follow them. These guys may be Just A Band, but they're far more talented than Just An Example.

Podcast

kamiki - orchestre kiam (syllart)
carruseles - afrosound (vampisoul)
latin roots - larry harlow (fania)
tingiza kichna - just a band (akwaaba)
thermodynamic orchestra - pierre bastien (western vinyl)
chocolate - l'ordi (zonda)
maze - actress (honest jons)
hela mmaneyu - kabasa (atlantic)
pecoussa - francois lougah (syllart)
united nation/saidi style - mahmoud fadl (piranha)
immigrant visa - poirier feat mc zulu rmx by maga bo (ninja tune)
cancion para colombia - huelepega sound system (inyrdisk)
alergia - very be careful (barbes)
n'ouhoumba - bako dagnon (discograph)
think twice - gilles peterson's havana cultural band rmx by 4 hero (brownswood)
end titles - jamshied sharifi rmx by solar lion (kiahkeya productions)
brigadier sabari - alpha blondy (syllart)
time tough - romain virgo (vp)
tribute - jah cutta (stomp)
don't fool the young girls version - the gladiators (studio one)
flash gordon meets luke skywalker - roots radics rmx by bill laswell (trojan)
log on dub - horsepower productions (tempa)

Abstract Index Playlist - November 11/09

As I listen to Wayne & Wax, DJ/Rupture and other leading lights on the Afropop Radio documentary "World Music 2.0" I find myself blogging about a subject so world music 1.0 it's hilarious.

Now you probably know that I have more affection than most for the term 'world music'. It has aggregated and created a marketplace for audiences, artists, labels, media and other players who believe in cultural exchange through music. Of course the debate is always about the TERMS of this exchange - who makes the rules, who profits, and whether it's fundamentally a one-way system.

I have never known what the deal is with Arc Music's roster and their marketing techniques. They're a British company who release a truckload of discs every year, most of which are guilty of Photoshop 1.0 design. The greater part of these discs appear to be one-off licenses (I hope) from individual artists or fledgling producers. Its output is a mix of pop and folkloric material. Its folklore is often served up with easy-listening reverb, while its pop won't drive anyone out of the souvenir shop. This market is well established by the initial world music 1.0 conventions set up in the late 80s, then tweaked by Putumayo's success in the 90s.

What bugs me most is that too many of Arc's releases feature the style of music front and center, with the artist's name buried in the graphics. The message seems to be "here's an example of this music" in the tradition of Putumayo's compilations which reduce the individual personality of the artists to a function of the overall image or flavour.

I can't understand what's going on this disc. 'Yinguica' doesn't seem to be the name of a band; perhaps it too is a one-off. Percussionist Barry Van Zyl is a member of Johnny Clegg's band, and he's a frequent name on Arc releases. So the listener/buyer isn't even sure about this disc's intent beyond the promise of authentic-sounding 'Marrabenta'. Since this Mozambique-based music is one of Africa's lesser known party sounds but stops well short of digital boom bap, it's an opportunity for Arc to put out yet another variety of novel but unthreatening global grooves.

Fortunately, as with a small but steady proportion of the label's content, the music is worthwhile. Hard charging percussion dominates most songs, and the instrumentation is kept spare with bass, drums, and intertwining acoustic guitars. I'm no expert on the music so I can't judge its 'authenticity', but it's clear that the participants are actually working up a sweat in keeping with the "play it 'til your strings break!" ethos of Marrabenta posited by the back cover.

This won't set the blogosphere on fire, but it's further proof that there is plenty of credible music being put out by the gatekeepers of world music 1.0, even if the circumstances are sometimes obscure. Hopefully everyone is seeing a return on their investment.

In the meantime, check that Afropop doc - it's a good roundup of how disintermediation is the main characteristic of world music 2.0.

Podcast

sierra alone - the embassadors (nonplace)
tiny pyramids - ratchetorchestra (no label)
the alley of enchantment - dub rocket (touchbass)
nucleus roots - automaton (satamile)
aqua con sal - bronx river parkway (truth and soul)
ni nhi me le - yinguica (arc music)
serengeti - magic drum orchestra (lion hea...d)
ghost ride - muskox (standard form)
avante me fante - mahala rai banda (asphalt tango)
plovdiska rachenista - boban i marko markovic orkestar (piranha)
joe pill - electro morocco (blue jay way)
untitled track 3 - pink saliva (no label)
lower nile - arthur blythe (india navigation)
blues n' boxing - michael kemp (no label)
independent girl - demattos (no label)
hallelujah - leroy brown (dakarai)
different strokes - kiddus i (naya)
i sight - tarrus riley (vp)
bumpy's lament - richie phoe (balanced)
don't cry dubwise - jah warrior (tanty)
stalag 23 - tony dubshot (no label)
the attorney - tommy mccook and the supersonics (pressure sounds)

This Old House - A Special Nuit Blanche Broadcast

That's the name of CIUT's Nuit Blanche extravaganza. Next year, CIUT vacates its home of more than 40 years. This is a tribute to the intense creativity that's passed through the building over the years. We're using all three production studios and an outdoor stage (until midnight).

It's a 12 hour clusterfuck of music from 7PM-7AM on Saturday October 4. Here's how it's gonna go down:

7PM: DJ sets by Guy Stevos, David Dacks + surprises

8:30PM: NAW (Noise Factory, dubby micro IDM) - live in front of 91 St. George St!

10PM: Dubmatix (live dub, new disc features Michael Rose, Sugar Minott, Alton Ellis) - live in front of 91 St. George St!

11PM: Huelepega Soundsystem (Sergio “Dos Mundos” Elmir & David “Abstract Index” Dacks dub out chopped and screwed cumbia Monterrey style plus Amadeo & Ernesto Ventura (keys and percussion))

midnight: INSIDEaMIND (turntable conceptualists, doing a special freaked out version of CIUT’s VINYL FROM THE CRYPT)

1AM: No Beat Radio Soundsystem (OK, maybe not a soundsystem exactly - but holy heck what a racket!)

2:45AM: Guayaveras (Eric Chenaux & Ryan Driver get into some deep post-punk electro improvisation)

3:45AM: Christine Duncan (voice; Barnyard Drama, Element Choir) & Brandon Valdivia (percussio; Not The Wind Not The Flag, Friendlyness & Human Rights)

4:30AM: Daniel Nebiat (Eritrean power pop & folk)

5AM: Gurpreet (The Tabla Guy) Chana (solo tabla alchemy)

6AM: Tradition (psych-folk is only the beginning…)

Throughout the night: visuals by Trevor Haldenby on the exterior of the building
Spoken word cutups by Ryan Longo

Let's put it this way... I've never put so many labels on a single post.

Yes, it's super diverse, but that doesn't mean it's going to be lowest common denominator entertainment. Be prepared for your mind to be continually blown for 12 hours straight.

Not living in Toronto is no excuse - log on to www.ciut.fm and listen live, or check back here for live blogging throughout the night.

Abstract Index Playlist - July 30/08

I was very happy to have the opportunity to write about krar star Daniel Nebiat's debut disc for Eye Weekly this past week. Here's the link.

It's available in stores in the Bloorcourt area - look for the posters. I believe Soundscapes will be getting some, if they haven't already. There will be a more formal release party later in the month.
Podcast

I just don’t know what to do with myself – the dells (cadet)
Seguiras criticandos – bio ritmo (locutor)
Miles away – david axelrod (polydor)
Strife in the village – earl Rodney (em)
Natey – Daniel Nebiat (no label)
Dancehall monitor – eric hove (effendi)
Allo caveman – colin fisher/jean martin
Culture & civilacao – gal costa (philiips)
threads – disguises (wintage)
I don’t want to set the world on fire – andy haas (resnonant)
Karsilama – talip ozkan (axiom)
Come in – move d & benjamin brunn (smallville)
Too long in slavery – culture (virgin)
Work on natty – culture (virgin)
Natty never get weary – culture (virgin)
I and I dub – abyssinians (heartbeat)
No burial/version – michael rose (M)
Be my lighthouse – bim sherman (century)
Subdub – dubmatix (7 arts)

More Africa In Us

Afrofest yesterday. Roger Humbert of The Live Music Report sizes up the ever-increasing crowd.

Thanks for the post title, Eccodek... it's true.

My favourite weekend of the year - Afrofest weekend - started yesterday. As an early celebration, I was very pleased to write about the festival's 20th anniversary for Eye Weekly.

As I've said many times before, Music Africa has overcome many, many struggles to succeed as an arts organization. Other arts groups can learn a lot from their story.

Afrofest is on the short list of things that make Toronto special. You'll never encounter another crowd like this anywhere. What makes this festival different from, say, Harbourfront, is that it's a ground-up festival. I love Harbourfront's programming, but it's well-funded with a lot of human resources and strong links to the biggest media in this town. Afrofest has none of these, and as a result a strong community feeling pervades Queens Park every year; it's a sense that everybody there makes the festival better by their mere presence.

It's the only event I've been to which is equally fun for families, couples and singles. Moreover, I always dug the family vibe long before I had a daughter - kids and adults groove to the same music, and usually the kids set the pace for the whole experience by being the first dancers in front of the stage.

P.S. Best food EVER this year. Srsly. Make sure you wash it down with some fiery ginger juice from Amazones.

Once again, I'm looking forward to helping out with CIUT's broadcast today from 1-7PM. Come by and say hello.

Alex Minoff Interview - Sept. 19 - 7PM - Abstract Index radio show

I recently spoke with Alex Minoff a guitarist/vocalist with Benga-rock band Extra Golden. I blogged about their first disc, and I wasn't alone. Somewhat improbably, they have a new album, thanks to good fortune and subtle political persuasion which enabled the reunion of the Kenyan members of the band and their American mates. They toured together and spent 5 days in a remote house in Pennsylvania to cut Hera Ma Nono. Minoff sounded pleased about Extra Golden's state of affairs throughout our conversation as we talked about his many life-changing experiences bound up in this collaboration.

As usual, the interview will air at 7PM Eastern time at 89.5FM in Toronto and at www.ciut.fm on the web.

Abstract Index Playlist - July 18/07

Staten Island's finest, the Budos Band, continue looking east, beyond Queens, beyond the Hamptons, all the way to I-thiopia. The Eastern Sound, to borrow a term from Augustus Pablo, is so entrenched throughout their second album that encapsulating their sound as Afrobeat styled funk no longer does them justice. It's never been entirely about Afrobeat for these guys anyways - the sound of the Ethiopiques series looms even larger on this album - but the main pleasure of this album is hearing them take on a range of unlikely styles and put them to the supertight, analog- uber-alles Daptone approach.

The record starts with a sassy cover of Bollywood gem "Na Na Na Yeh Kya Karne Lage Ho" (recently reissued on the Bombay Connection compilation) here entitled "Chicago Falcon". Track two, "Budos Rising", was featured on this week's show. If the Zombies retired to East Africa, they'd have made music like this. The breakdowns and rhythm arrangements are still Africa-meets-America, but the frigid organ sound makes this tune. My current favourite from this disc is "His Girl", which transforms one of the sunniest Motown confections of all time into an tense groove which conjures up an imaginary backstory with its subtle change of title. Almost all the original hooks to "My Girl" remain, but are barely recognizable on first listen.

This is an exciting disc - don't let the retro sound fool you into thinking that this is retro music.

black man's cry - the gay flamingoes (crippled dick hot wax)
grinfa louca - paulo bagunca e a tropa maldita (discos mariposa)
budos rising - budos band (daptone)
descarga en minor - el combo de pepe (vampisoul)
fight to hang on - rise ashen rmx by kasm (balanced)
yieterra - raquy and the cavemen (raquy)
dust - raquy and the cavemen (raquy)
amilly - kenge kenge (riverboat)
voch me dzaleeg - alan shavarsh bardezbanian (arc)
august 5 2006 - claudia quintet (cuneiform)
the heart of the matter pt. 2 - jeremy strachan (standard form)
love - junior delahaye (wackies)
dub to jah - dub unlimited (senrab)
hibakusha song - zion train (universal egg)
mr. freeze - king fatty (mr. bongo)
judgement time - chester miller (CRW)
struggle - bunny wailer (shanachie)

Abstract Index Playlist - July 11/07

Stop the virtual presses! Kenge Kenge is your summertime groove. Cynics would say this disc rides on the coattails of Konono #1 ' s surprise crossover success, but that reduces the beauty of this record to a marketing equation. That said, the sonic approach of this Kenyan "tradi-moderne" band is a similar blend of thumping, scraping and overblown acoustic ingredients rendered club-friendly in the mix.

I'd like to know more about the circumstances surrounding this record. Whereas Konono was "discovered" and project-managed by a European resident (to which some critics objected on principle - not me, though), the recording engineer here shares a last name with one of the main members of the band which suggests that this is an entirely homegrown product, and the German embassy in Kenya appears to have contributed assistance to this project. How that plays out on the finished product is a mystery to me so far, but I'll certainly try to find out more.

Kenge Kenge play traditional Luo music, which evolved into Benga during the 60s and 70s. I've listened to this disc a dozen times and still can't quite make the connection between the pulse-quickening polyrhythms on display here and the more unidirectional groove of the Benga I've heard. With rumbling, stereo-panned percussion, flutes and electric bass licks, this mix features a cavernous bass sound pierced by soaring flute and an Appalachian-sounding one-stringed fiddle. As soon as their eponymous first song drops, the four to the floor drum rhythm with disco hi-hat will engage the mind and body of anyone within earshot. This approach is sustained for 70 minutes but the modulation of the electric bassist and the producers' love of panning and echo make each of the tunes distinct. Don't know why, but there are elements to this music which remind me of the faux-tribal grooves of early 80s London, i.e Adam and the Ants, Pigbag and even Girls On Film-era Duran Duran. It must be the ferocious stereo-widened stick drummers which are doing the trick, coupled with the overt funk influence on bass. Thankfully, Simon Le Bon is nowhere to be found.

(P.S. I was absent on July 4, so no playlist)

shuffle - evan parker/george lewis/barry guy/paul lytton (psi)
rocamayoha - gustavo aguilar (henceforth)
the heart of the matter #5 - jeremy strachan (standard form)
banished - david murray (justin time)
ekim - michael urbaniak group (bbe)
bold & black - melvin jackson (limelight)
chaturangui gazal - bob brozman (riverboat)
palimpset - kammerflimmer kollektief (staubgold)
obama - extra golden (thrill jockey)
anyango mbeo - kenge kenge (riverboat)
telegramme - papa wemba (sterns)
para los rumberos - tito puente (soul jazz)
dust - dorothy ashby (cadet)
ranglin satta - ernest ranglin (blood and fire)
fight it to the top - michael prophet & trinity (blood and fire)
pot of gold - courtney stone (independent)
see baba joe - wailing souls (greensleeves)
dem a go feel it - frankie paul (greensleeves)

Krar Power

Daniel Nebiat. Image courtesy of Wavelength.

Twas a big night for Wavelength last night. Krar-ist Daniel Nebiat mashed up the place. There are many in the Wavelength extended family who enjoy the Ethiopian/Eritrean strip along Bloor near Ossington so it seemed logical at some point that there would be an opportunity for some musical crossover, especially following last month's panel discussion. A few emails between Wavelength and Music Africa begat Wavelength #356.

I'll let Stilleposter 'Demian' describe his (and the crowd's) reaction: "I thought Daniel Nebiat would play a more low-key folky set but shifted gears and really loved his super disco soul funk African groove." On top of that Nebiat brought a large dollop of Fred Frith meets Earl Scruggs vibe to this brand of disco. But disco it was - those booming DMX beats quickly engaged the dance punk/Hall and Oates-lovin' side of Wavelength patrons. Waleed Abdulhamid was an effective bassist, alternating between playing within the frequency of the krar or laying down subterranean grooves which gave the circular forms of the music greater dancefloor drama. But Nebiat was a star, playing to the ladies, grooving out with some truly twisted displays of polyrhythm and polytonality on the pentatonic krar. If there was any skepticism in the crowd, it vanished quickly. Even without the krar, Nebiat held the crowd with ease. The twenty or so Eritrean patrons also loved the vibe - and most likely Sneaky Dee's very capable sound system. Nadine McNulty from Music Africa told me that Sneak's may well become a hangout for them; they loved the atmosphere, the accepting vibe of the crowd and the trippy visuals.

I don't want to make too much of one admittedly wonderful night, but everyone was overjoyed beyond their expectations - Jonny and Wavelength, Nadine and Music Africa, the bands and everyone in attendance. More collaboration is sure to follow. When capable indie-minded organizers start working together, great works result.