News and opinions from Broklyn Beats Records and Applecore Mailorder.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2008 RE/discoveries



In lieu of a year-end top-ten list, here's a few tracks from rare LPs I found while digging around Brooklyn. I listened to a lot of Dubstep and its attendant offshoots this year, but also re-discovered a lot of old dub, world and free musics I hadn't heard in ages... plus old jungle has been popping up all over Youtube... It has also begun to be a diggers' paradise with everyone now thinning out immense collections, sacrificed to the Almighty Serrato. Next entry will be my fave Youtube cuts from last year. Now for the re/discovered:

More of a newly discovered track, I've decided this was my most-often spun track of 2008. It's buried on the B-side of The Bug's "Poison Dart remix" 12" which is way sold-out and still worth hunting for the Skream remix on the A-side...
"Stampin" by The Bug Ft. Flowdan

Rumor is some record exec. sold a load of unsealed or unplayed vinyl to Academy Records. It was all '50's and 60's world musics, collections from Iran, Iraq, Syria, India and on and on. I paid a pretty penny for some of these and have been rewarded kindly. This track is from the Decca LP "The Syrian Maqams."
"Taqsim on Nay" by Badruddin Halibie

I was happy to buy a sealed copy of the "2 Bad Mice" double LP from Smile Communications founder DB himself. I was also happy to see digital collections of the early Reinforced dubplates. Made me pull out my old CD of 4-Hero's "Parallel Universe" LP...
"Terraforming" by 4 Hero

I found some great dub, random copies of 70's gems still popping up in Brooklyn warehouses. This is from Big Youth's "Dread Locks Dread" LP...
"Big Youth Special" by Big Youth

I can imagine Obama in this Lower East Side loft in '72. He probably ditched the Panama hat by then, but was still smoking something, nodding his head in ecstatic peace to Andrew Cyrille, Maono, David Ware et al.... Notice the electronics by a Mr. Romulus Franceschini toward the end. From the "Celebration" LP by Andrew Cyrille and Maono:
"Non-Expectation Celebration" by Andrew Cyrille and Maono