Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs - Jalikebba and the Toubabs

Band / Artist: Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs
Year: 2005
Genre: World, Spoken Word., African, Indian, Folk

My Review:
Swedish folk, Classical violin, Indian tabla, and African kora. All together. God. Damn. I like it a whole lot.

Here's a breakdown of the members

Two members of the group, Jalikebba and Haruna were born into griot families. Griots [ /grēˈō/ ] are a social caste who perform traditional music and poetry, jaliyaa, carrying on the oral tradition from antiquity.

Tommy is an Austrian performer and composer who specializes in the Indian tabla and other percussive instruments. Violinist Sandra and vocalist Kasja are both Swedes.

Jalikebba Kuyateh was born and raised in Gambia, and is a skilled kora player who has performed with many groups in Africa. He is in demand for festivals, weddings, and ceremonies. He also teaches music workshops both at the museum and abroad.

Currently, Jalikebba is the lead performer at the Tanji Village Museum in Tanji, Gambia.  The museum presents and preserves the traditional culture and the natural history of Gambia. These tunes were recorded live at the Tanji Village Museum, January 29, 2005.

So they make this neat melded sound, that seems like a much more melodic version of Bjork's weirder music, just infused with a ton of African influences. Listen to a track or two, and I'll bet it grows on you.

Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs - Jalikebba and the Toubabs

Kaninchen - Broke up

Year: 2013
Genre: Field Recordings, Spoken Word., Post-Rock, Acoustic

My Review:
This one showed up in my email inbox quite a while ago. I promised to share it, and now, I'm going to keep my word. Hopefully better late than never.

An unusual album to get sent in an email. It feels like one part sound pieces and field recording, one part acoustic pieces that I might call sadcore, and one part spoken word. It's about failing relationships, and the feelings of those moments of breakup. I like how some of the field recordings tie into the music, and how the differences in style really bring out the point they were driving at emotionally.

I can definitely say that there has been a theme of sadder stuff on my playlist for a while, and I've picked this one up a few times. I hope you check it out, and thanks to the band for sharing it. If you guys want to do an interview with some more work, drop me a line.

 Kaninchen - Broke up

Halloween special - H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Band / Artist: Various Artists
Year: 2013
Genre: Spoken word

My Review:
Since Halloween is right around the corner, I felt like a little treat was necessary. Enjoy some literary readings of various creepy stories, mostly ones from Lovecraft. I won't bother to say much else, because if you like creepy stories or podcasts, then you know what you are in for.
Enjoy.

H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Boom Bip & Charlie White - Music for Sleeping Children

Band / Artist: Boom Bip & Charlie White
Year: 2012
Genre: Alternative Pop, Electronica, Hip-hop, Experimental, Spoken Word

My Review:
Music for Sleeping Children is more of an art collaboration than a band work, but its still an album, and its still by good artists, and good enough that I'm keeping it. So this is the gist, visual artist Charlie White calls up Boom Bip, and says "Hey, I'm interviewing teen girls about their lives in a recording studio. Come turn it into music." So that happens, and it becomes an EP of fun and oddly existential music, released side by side with crazy artsy music videos.

This isn't the first project that they did together.

 The project stems from White's investigations of the representation of American adolescence, and was born from a relationship forged between White and Hollon in 2009 when they collaborated on "We Like to Shop," a simple clap-along song from White's experimental cartoon, OMG BFF LOL that Hollon converted into a throbbing club track for the work's US premier at the Aldrich Museum. From there, White and Hollon set out to realize a far more ambitious project conceived by White as the marriage of in-depth teen interviews, discussions, and studio projects with pop, electronica, hip hop and experimental composition. Working in tandem, White and Hollon fashioned the concept of each track around the original studio recordings of teen girls ranging in age from 12 to 16. From eager enthusiasms, to exuberant chants, to adolescent melancholia, Music for Sleeping Children underscores the complex tensions resonant in the teen voices while transforming each girl into a popular music form of her own. Magical, uncomfortable, and original, Music for Sleeping Children is an artwork, an archive, and an album.

Boom Bip & Charlie White - Music for Sleeping Children