Cubicle Vacations: New Music, Vol 4 by Andy Wagstaff, Collection DevelopmentDecember 15, 2016

This batch of new music will not only take you around the globe; but it will take you places back in time as well. Oh, and it will make you dance. Don't forget to put in your requests for any and all of these great recordings new to our circulating collections. 

de la soulAnd the Anonymous Nobody by De La Soul (2016)

Oh, ya think ya know De La Soul! 'Cause you had that album "3 Feet High and Rising" when you were in college, with the members floating in daisies on the cassette tape cover. You liked it. It was fun,  silly, inventive in its production and its sampling. But that was a long time ago, and now you just don't have time to listen to everything everyone you listened to in college is up to now. Ah, but I beg you. It doesn't matter where you've been, whether you know De La Soul or not. This album is better than you think it is. If I had but one wish for the holidays, it would be for you to listen to this song. But really, it's for you, not me. So Happy Holidays, I got you this. I hope you like it: PREVIEW

 

Trevor MorrisonThe Lost Songs of St. Kilda by Trevor Morrison (2016)

The story is astonishing, really. There is an island off of Scotland's Northwest coast named St. Kilda. Records show the island had been inhabited for 2000 years, by no more than 180 people at a time. As the modern era began to reshape the globe, by means of travel, communication, technology, St. Kilda remained quite isolated. Many able-bodied residents emigrated off the island. There were food shortages. And in 1930 the residents requested they be evacuated. Nobody lives there now. I must assume there was a piano on the island, though reading of just how isolated it was, it's hard to believe there was. But one of the residents brought with him some tunes written on the island, and at some point taught them to a young boy named Trevor Morrison. Decades later, Morrison was in an elderly care facility in Scotland, near to where the River Forth flows into the North Sea.Those songs were never written down, they only existed in the memory of Morrison, until he decided to sit down at the piano one day and start playing them. A resident working at the nursing home immediately noticed the simple, yet astonishing beauty of the songs Morrison played. He went home that night, downloaded some simple recording software, and went and bought a $3 microphone. He returned the next day and asked Morrison if he could play the songs again. And so, a never-before recorded elderly man was recorded by a never-recorded-before "engineer" in the rec room of a facility for the elderly. Those recordings are the basis of this album. These tunes reflect the island's isolation, as they differ in tone, scale, and structure, from virtually anything else you've ever heard. Eventually the recordings made their way to Decca Records, who were so impressed, they brought in established composers to add some orchestration to some of the tracks, but not others. The untouched pieces are the most haunting. Though the story is a great one, it's the music that's the real astonishing part. One composer who worked with the pieces, Craig Armstrong, said, "In a lot of classical music people can tend to think that something that is very complicated is good and something that is very simple is not so interesting, but of course that's not really the case because these pieces I found quite deep and very emotional." PREVIEW

 

Minor VictoriesMinor Victories by Minor Victories (2016)

Made up of members from the bands Slowdive and Mogwai, Minor Victories delivers a beat-heavy, melodic, electronic, rocking, gossamer-winged dream of an album!

PREVIEW

 

 

Exploded ViewExploded View by Exploded View (2016)

Think perhaps if Nico from the Velvet Underground sang for Throbbing Gristle. Exploded View is the garage rock version of bands like the above Minor Victories. They recorded the whole thing in one take, straight to tape; and it sounds like it was recorded in some underground, gutted out, industrial building somewhere in the abandoned warehouse district of Mexico City (where the band did a series of inspired live shows before deciding to record). The result is a sort of arty industrialism. PREVIEW

 

Psychedelic CambodiaRough Guide to Psychedelic Cambodia by Various (2014) 

Prior to the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia, there was quite a thriving rock music scene there. Musicians and groups would combine western-influences rock elements with the traditional sounds of the country with amazing and varied results. It is well known that the Khmer Rouge saw this music as a threat to their agrarian-socialist agenda, and many were killed in the ensuing genocide. It is fortunate that a good amount, though tragically not most, of this music survived in recorded form one way or another. Several compilations have been issued, starting with the 1996 issuing of "Cambodian Rocks". These collections consist of sounds you will find nowhere else, and it is a miracle they exist at all. 

PREVIEW

 

Brian Eno & HarmoniaTracks and Traces by Brian Eno & Harmonia (1976)

Many of the German avant-garde bands of the late 60s and early 70s became somewhat pejoratively known as Krautrock. The bands didn't like it much, since to call a German a Kraut is, well, in bad taste. But as a label it stuck among English-speaking audiences; and since "Krautrock" really caught on in the rest of Europe and America, the bands reluctantly said of the label, "well, sure, OK then". Bands like Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Cluster, and Tangerine Dream (to name but a few) were among the pioneers of the use of synthesizers in their music. 
In England, Brian Eno was also getting into the synthesizer. And when he parted ways with the band that gave him his start, Roxy Music, he looked up the guys in Harmonia (Eno has called Harmonia "The world's most important rock band"). They were then staying at a place in the German countryside, and Eno came to visit with some reel-to-reel tapes in-hand. They spent a few days hanging out and recording, with no specific plan to release anything. And they didn't! Eno was up to other stuff and simply shelved the masters, until they were finally released in 1997. Some great ambient, atmospheric soundscapes on this one. Very relaxing. PREVIEW

 

BuikaVivir Sin Miedo by Buika (2015)

Concha Buika was born to Equatorial Guinean parents who fled political turmoil there, and migrated to Majorca, Spain. She tells of being the only black family on the entire island back then; and as a result, she hung out with the gypsy community there. She soaked up their music, their love for Flamenco and their way of "cante jondo" (deep singing). She soaked up the folk songs from Guinea her mother used to sing; and she soaked up influences from, apparently, everywhere else. Her combining influences are completely unforced; they just come out, in varied ways. Her latest album, "Vivir Sin Miedo" means "live without fear"; and her singing here is as impassioned as anyone you've ever heard! PREVIEW

 

UkandanzAwo by UKANDANZ (2016)

Look folks, I realize I probably throw around that word "unique", but I mean, come on! This right here is insanity! Coming out of the concert venues and nightclubs of Ethiopia's Capital city, Addis Ababa, is a style of music called "Ethiopian Crunch". Ukandanz is one such outfit, and it is some of the heaviest, amazing, punk rock you've ever heard! That's right, this is punk! Back in the days when punk bands used to have saxophones, yea, some of you know what I'm talking about. Led by the amazing, AMAZING, vocal stylings of Asnake Guebreyes, this is some incredible music. That is all. PREVIEW

 

MezclaMezcla by M.A.K.U. Soundsystem (2016)

New York City's own M.A.K.U. Soundsystem's latest record is dedicated, so the liner notes state, to "“The Everyday People of all races and backgrounds,  especially to those who find within their spirit the strength to outgrow the hardship inside themselves to promote a positive life for all amidst the wickedness of the few who constantly rule this world to turmoil and despair.” It is hard not to feel the value of this sentiment, just now. Made up of immigrants, this band illustrates just how awesome a melting pot this city is. With elements of African, Colombian, Hip-Hop, and Funk, this ensemble simply tears it up with one of the closest things to live music you'll ever hear on record. This record is a freakin' party. PREVIEW

 

Hailu MergiaShemonmuanaye by Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument (1985)

I've written about the record label, Awesome Tapes From Africa, before. Basically, someone started finding cassette tapes of great African music for sale in street carts on the streets of Ghana, and decided to start releasing it on CD and online to a wider audience. The project has not only brought some great music to those outside of Africa (the project has expanded well beyond Ghana) for the first time, but also has brought more recognition to many of those artists as a result. Most, if not all, of the music, is like nothing you've ever heard before. Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument (I love that one!) is no exception. It sounds like he uses a rather rudimentary drum machine, perhaps a harmonium, and some synthesizers, layered to create a dreamy, pastoral, mildly electronic soundscape. Great stuff!  PREVIEW

 

Brookzill!Throwback to the Future by Brookzill!  (2016)

If you appreciated the first entry here (De La Soul), you'll want to give this one a shot as well. The link is Prince Paul, who produced on some early De La Soul records (including "3 Feet High and Rising"). A few years back, Prince Paul went to Brazil and began collaborating with a Sao Paolo MC named Rodrigo Brandao. Brandao had long sensed a connection between Hip-Hop and the Afro-Brazilian, drum-heavy ceremonies he grew up on. A good illustration of these kindred elements is the mixtape Brandao put together to introduce this project, which combines snippets from the album with more traditional tracks of Brazilian music. Add to this mix Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets, who happens to have one of the sickest flows in Hip-Hop (listen for yourself and see if I'm wrong!). Ms. Mecca is a native of New York, but her parents and roots trace back to Brazil as well. With Mecca and Brandao weaving in and out of Portuguese and English as they rap, and Prince Paul's legendary production and talent for elevating sampling into an artform, Brookzill! nails it with one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the year! PREVIEW

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FRESH

Submitted by Sean Selby (not verified) on December 15, 2016 - 11:07am

Kudos Professor Wagstaff. Like a breath of fresh air, the musical suggestions reveal that you indeed do have your finger on the pulse of the world heart beat.