Midweek Beats + Pieces vol.6

Dazed & Confused, Radio Alhara, beats + pieces, etc

It’s almost Wednesday. It’s almost the middle of the week. Time for another recap post of sorts. This time I’ve got a few recent developments to share with you, a bunch of recommendations and of course, photos. This week I used NINM Lab Business Use 135 Color Negative Film(ISO 400 / 24 exp) with my Nikon F60 camera. Dev+scan via Wellington Photographic Supply.

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:

Four times a year, I write a new music column for Dazed. On Monday, the Q2 2021 edition of my column went live on their website. All ten releases covered are available for purchase on bandcamp dot com. Stylistically, we’re looking at club-tempo post-rock, J Punk, Nongak futurism, neo sufi, a whole lot more. Check it out over here.

Something else happened on Monday. My good friends at Palestine’s Radio Alhara راديو الحارة. aired a new DJ mix from yours truly, A Strange World. And what a strange world it is, right? Newish bits from Dean Blunt, Fatima Al Qadiri, UMO, Mara TK, Unknown Artist and others. You can stream the archive on Mixcloud here.

WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:

Psychedelic Digestion Therapy, Self-Titled (Strangelove)

This is the first release of new music on Ben Stevens excellently curated Strangelove Music label. This time around, rather than reissue vibes, Brussels, Belgium’s Psychedelic Digestion Therapy serve up six slices of Krautrock/Psychedelica-slanted Electronica for the unrepentant Balearic set. I believe we can expect more releases from these anonymized music makers soon (or soon enough).

t-woc, Pantangle (Strangelove)

Following on from Psychedelic Digestion Therapy, Dublin, Ireland’s t-woc steps up for the second release of new music through Strangelove. Over Pantangle’s two sides, he draws on his digging experience to summon up a soundworld where Caribbean steel drum, Anatolian melodies and the sounds of the Maghreb all figure as forces within some seriously big and bashy sound system jams.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:

The mighty Anne Boyer has published a new essay on her substack titled each homer of nought. Here’s an extract.

The inner eye so often has an unmatched power of synthesis, motion, generated light -- it composes, in part, by analogy, so it is able to see cumulatively and generatively from what we have only experienced in the sideways. Helen Keller wrote about this, "I understand how scarlet can differ from crimson because I know that the smell of an orange is not the smell of a grape-fruit," and "My hand has its share in this multiple knowledge, but it must never be forgotten that with the fingers I see only a very small portion of a surface... my imagination is not tethered to certain points, locations, and distances. It puts all the parts together simultaneously as if it saw or knew instead of feeling them."

You can read the whole essay here.

Bandcamp Daily: WITCH’s Zamrock Revolution, by Ana Leorne

Although its genesis can be traced back to the ’50s mining troubadour tradition (the movement originated in the Copperbelt region, after all), Zamrock’s explosion didn’t happen until the ’70s, when recording was pushed forward by post-colonial euphoria and a mandate from then-President Kaunda that 95% of the music played on the radio be Zambian. But that didn’t necessarily translate into studio access for everyone, or a business that was remotely ethical or fair.

Ana Leorne writes about the sound and legacy of Zambia’s Zamrock pioneers WITCH for Bandcamp Daily. A new documentary about them, WITCH - We Intend To Cause Havoc is now showing in selected theatres and online. Read Ana’s article here.

Bandcamp Daily: The Unheralded Music of Detroit’s Strata Records, by John Morrison

“It’s very significant for me. My parents were in the Nation Of Islam, so they were on the frontlines of the Civil Rights movement, so I come from that kind of background. They did a lot of stuff in the community which really attracted me to the label because they were not just a great label making great music, they were like, we’re going to do something in our community.”

John Morrison writes about the considerable legacy of Strata Records, home to some of Detroit’s finest musicians. In it’s five years of existence in the ‘70s, it built a roster whose sound encompassed soul, Latin, fusion, post-bop and more. DJ and collector Amir Abdullah is bringing it back. Read more here.

Rest In Love, Dr Haunani-Kay Trask

“The people cannot exist without the land and the land cannot exist without the people.”

Pacific people all over the world are mourning the loss of Dr Haunani-Kay Trask, an esteemed leader of indigenous sovereignty in Hawaii, who fought many effective battles against the US for Kanaka Maoli, and whose mana is upheld around the region. The Coconet talks about her life in more detail over here.

BONUS:

You can listen to Voices and DJ Marcelle on The Lot Radio’s Nothing In Moderation radio show here.

China has a new community radio station, BAIHUI 百会. Read more here.

Dark0 on making nostalgic tracks for imagined futures. Read more on Dazed over here.

Josh Indi Leidy, John Morrison and Raj Haldar’s documentary Another Word For Paradise has been selected for inclusion in the Hip Hop Film Festival.

Resident Advisor has made a documentary about Terre Thaemlitz titled Give Up On Hopes And Dreams. You can watch it here.

FIN.